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REYNOLDS  HISTORICAL 
GENEALOGY  COLLECTION 


Encyclopedia  of  Pennsylvania 

BIOGRAPHY 


BY 

JOHN  W.  JORDAN,  LL.D. 

Librarian  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia ;  Author  of  "Colonial  Fainilief 

of  Philadelphia,"  "Revolutionary  History  of  Bethlehem," 

and  various  other  work9. 


ILLUSTRATED 


VOLUME    X 


NEW  YORK 

LEWIS  HISTORICAL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

1918 


1607140 


BIOGRAPHICAL 


s 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


THOMAS,  George  C, 

Master  of  Finance,  Philanthropist. 

Among  those  sterling  business  men 
who,  during  the  latter  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  aided  in  strengthening 
and  upholding  the  most  vital  interests  of 
Philadelphia,  not  one  stood  higher  in  the 
esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens  than  the  late 
George  C.  Thomas,  member  of  the  bank- 
ing house  of  Drexel  &  Company,  and  who 
as  banker,  philanthropist  and  churchman, 
won  for  himself  a  place  all  his  own. 

(I)  John  Thomas,  grandfather  of  George 
C.  Thomas,  came  to  Pennsylvania  from 
Wales.  He  married  Martha  Taylor,  and 
among  his  children  were  George  C,  who 
died,  May  2,  1907,  in  the  ninetieth  year 
of  his  age ;  and  John  W.  Thomas,  of 
whom  below. 

(II)  John  W.  Thomas,  son  of  John  and 
Martha  (Taylor)  Thomas,  was  born  in 
Philadelphia,  November  11,  1816,  and  re- 
ceived his  education  in  the  schools  of 
that  city.  For  many  years  he  was  one  of 
Philadelphia's  most  prominent  drygoods 
merchants.  His  first  mercantile  estab- 
lishment was  located  at  Second  and  Cal- 
lowhill  streets ;  later  he  removed  to 
Chestnut  street,  occupying  the  site  of  the 
present  store  of  Joseph  G.  Darlington  & 
Company,  Mr.  Darlington  having  been 
in  his  employ,  and  later  succeeding  him, 
January  1,  1874,  when  Mr.  Thomas  retired. 
John  W.  Thomas  was  officially  connected 
with  various  banks  of  his  city.  He  was 
one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Chel- 
ten  Hills  Company.  In  politics  he  was  a 
Whig,  and  later  a  Republican.  He  was 
for  many  years  a  member  and  warden  of 
old  St.  Paul's  Church,  Philadelphia,  and 


he  took  a  very  active  interest  in  organiz- 
ing the  parish  of  St.  Paul's,  Cheltenham 
(suburb  of  Philadelphia),  of  which  he  was 
a  member  and  senior  warden  till  death. 
John  W.  Thomas  married  Sophia  Kezia 
Atkinson,  born  January  26,  1819,  daugh- 
ter of  Judge  John  and  Mary  (Bigelow) 
Atkinson,  of  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  of 
which  county  John  Atkinson  was  judge 
of  the  circuit  court.  Judge  John  Atkin- 
son was  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Catherine 
(Vaughan)  Atkinson.  The  Atkinson  fam- 
ily came  from  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  a 
lower  county,  which  formerly,  it  was 
said,  belonged  to  Maryland.  The  Mary- 
land Atkinsons  came  with  the  colony  of 
Lord  Baltimore,  and  of  this  Maryland 
branch  was  the  late  Bishop  Atkinson,  of 
North  Carolina.  John  W.  and  Sophia 
Kezia  (Atkinson)  Thomas  were  the  par- 
ents of  the  following  children  :  1.  George 
Clifford,  of  whom  below.  2.  Ella,  wife  of 
George  H.  Leonard,  of  Boston,  Mas- 
sachusetts. 3.  Rev.  Richard  Newton 
Thomas,  deceased ;  clergyman  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  church,  Philadel- 
phia ;  married  Clara  Horstmann,  daugh- 
ter of  William  J.  Horstmann,  Philadel- 
phia,-, and  they  had  children:  Walter 
Horstmann  Thomas,  of  Philadelphia  ;  and 
Emma,  wife  of  Norman  Ellison,  of  Phil- 
adelphia. 4.  Ida,  deceased;  became  the 
wife  of  Charles  B.  Newcomb,  of  Bos* 
ton,  Massachusetts.  5.  Virginia,  wife  of 
James  Day  Rowland,  Philadelphia.  6. 
Laura  Cooke,  died  in  girlhood.  The 
death  of  John  W.  Thomas  occurred 
March  18,  1882,  at  his  home,  Chelten 
Hills,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  had  resided 
since  1854,  and  the  death  of  his  wife 
occurred  July  5,  1895.    At  the  time  of  the 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


death  of  John  W.  Thomas  a  Philadelphia 
paper  said :  "He  was  a  Christian  gentle- 
man of  the  highest  and  purest  type,  and 
as  such  will  be  remembered  by  all  who 
knew  him." 

(Ill)  George  Clifford  Thomas,  son  of 
John  W.  and  Sophia  Kezia  (Atkinson) 
Thomas,  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, October  28,  1839.  He  attended 
and  graduated  from  the  Episcopal  Acad- 
emy, and  at  an  early  age  assumed  man- 
agement of  his  father's  commercial  inter- 
ests, for  which  he  displayed  marked  apti- 
tude. His  ability  soon  won  recognition 
from  Jay  Cooke,  who  offered  him  a  posi- 
tion in  his  banking  house,  and  admitted 
him  to  partnership  in  1861.  In  1863  and 
throughout  the  period  of  the  Civil  War, 
when  the  great  financial  operations  of  the 
government  were  conducted  by  the  firm, 
George  C.  Thomas  was  one  of  the  active 
partners.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in 
the  work  accomplished  by  the  firm  which 
strengthened  the  finances  of  the  govern- 
ment so  that  it  was  enabled  to  carry  on 
the  war,  which  cost  from  three  hundred 
to  eight  hundred  million  dollars  annually. 
The  great  part  which  Jay  Cooke  &  Com- 
pany took  in  popularizing  the  government 
loans  has  never  been  fully  told.  Mr. 
Thomas  was  actively  instrumental  with 
Mr.  Cooke  in  promoting  and  carrying  on 
the  largest  and  most  successful  money 
operations  that  any  government  ever  un- 
dertook. 

Upon  the  failure  of  Jay  Cooke  &  Com- 
pany, in  September,  1873,  George  C. 
Thomas  gave  every  dollar  of  his  fortune 
for  the  benefit  of  his  creditors.  For  sev- 
eral months  he  was  compelled  to  give  his 
personal  attention  to  the  work  of  straight- 
ening out  the  firm's  affairs.  Undaunted 
by  his  experience,  he  began  business 
anew  before  the  close  of  the  same  year, 
entering  into  partnership  with  Joseph  M. 
Shoemaker,  under  the  style  of  Joseph  M. 


Shoemaker  &  Company,  which  later  be- 
came Thomas  &  Shoemaker.  Within  a 
few  years  the  firm  had  gained  an  influ- 
ential clientage,  the  business  being  recog- 
nized as  hardly  second  to  any  controlled 
by  the  banking  and  brokerage  firms  on 
Third  street. 

Again  the  personal  ability  of  George  C. 
Thomas  won  recognition  when  Anthony 
J.  Drexel  invited  him  in  1883  to  become  a 
partner  in  the  well-known  Drexel  house. 
From  that  time  until  his  death  there  were 
few  large  financial  transactions  of  Phila- 
delphia in  which  Mr.  Thomas  did  not  fig- 
ure. He  was  concerned  in  the  Reading 
Railroad  reorganization  and  the  North- 
ern Pacific  reorganization,  and  all  the 
large  operations  of  the  Drexel  &  Morgan 
firms  before  his  retirement.  For  twenty- 
one  years  he  ranked  among  the  first  of 
Philadelphia's  international  bankers.  Be- 
cause of  ill  health,  he  retired  from  busi- 
ness in  January,  1905.  His  financial  in- 
terests were  in  part  represented  by  mem- 
bership in  the  Stock  Exchange,  a  direc- 
torship in  the  Farmers  and  Mechanics 
National  Bank  and  the  Pennsylvania 
Company  for  Insurance  on  Lives  and 
Granting  Annuities.  He  was  also  a  direc- 
tor of  the  Philadelphia  Savings  Fund  So- 
ciety and  an  invester  in  many  other  finan- 
cial institutions. 

A  man  of  deeply  religious  nature, 
George  C.  Thomas  gave  largely  of  his 
fortune  to  all  forms  of  religion  and  char- 
ity. He  was  a  truly  great  churchman, 
giving  himself  with  equal  devotion  to  the 
far  and  the  near.  Missions  gave  outlet 
and  expression  to  his  world-wide  sym- 
pathies ;  his  own  parish  furnished  abun- 
dant opportunity  for  close  personal  con- 
tact and  individual  helpfulness.  He  was 
treasurer  of  the  Domestic  and  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  for  thirteen  years,  and 
was  deputy  to  general  conventions  repre- 


/ 


-. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


senting  his  diocese  for  twenty-one  years. 
Reared  in  old  St.  Paul's  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church,  under  the  Rev.  Richard 
Newton,  D.  D.,  its  rector,  Mr.  Thomas 
was  always  interested  in  church  work. 
When  the  Rev.  Phillips  Brooks,  Rev. 
Samuel  Appleton,  D.  D.,  and  others,  or- 
ganized the  Church  of  the  Holy  Apostles, 
at  Twenty-first  and  Christian  streets, 
Philadelphia,  Mr.  Thomas  was  elected 
accounting  warden,  and  was  asked  to  take 
charge  of  the  Sunday  school  until  "a  reg- 
ular superintendent  could  be  found."  Mr. 
Thomas  entered  into  the  Sunday  school 
work  with  zeal,  and  "the  regular  superin- 
tendent" was  found,  for  in  the  forty-one 
years  which  elapsed  ere  he  passed  from 
this  life,  he  was  seldom  away  from  the 
school  at  its  regular  sessions  and  only 
when  necessity  obliged  him  to  be  absent. 
The  little  Sunday  school  of  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Apostles  became  one  of  the 
strongest  in  the  city,  and  Mr.  Thomas  be- 
came one  of  the  noted  Sunday  school 
workers  in  the  country.  Among  the  mu- 
nificent gifts  made  by  Mr.  Thomas  to 
the  church  was  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy 
Communion,  at  Twenty-first  and  Whar- 
ton streets,  as  a  thank  offering  for  the 
recovery  of  his  son,  George  C.  Thomas, 
Jr.. ;  the  Richard  Newton  Memorial 
Building  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Apostles,  Twenty-first  and  Christian 
streets,  and  Cooper  Hall  and  Gymnasium, 
Twenty-third  and  Christian  streets.  He 
also  gave  the  large  piece  of  ground  for 
the  nurses'  home  of  the  Hahnemann  Hos- 
pital to  that  institution.  With  Mrs. 
Thomas  he  gave  a  large  parish  house  to 
the  Chapel  of  the  Holy  Communion,  and 
also  donated  twelve  thousand  dollars 
toward  erecting  the  parish  house  of  the 
Chapel  of  the  Mediator  at  Fifty-first  and 
Spruce  streets.  His  last  gift  was  given 
on  Palm  Sunday,  when  he  gave  five  thou- 
sand dollars  to  the  Chapel  of  the  Media- 


tor. But  what  was  greater  than  his  gifts 
of  money  was  that  he  gave  himself,  gave 
of  his  time,  his  energy  and  his  thought, 
to  the  work  of  the  church,  and  was  a 
leader  in  all  its  movements.  In  addition 
to  being  superintendent  of  Holy  Apostles 
Sunday  school,  he  maintained  for  more 
than  forty  years  a  Friday  Evening  Teach- 
ers' Lesson  Study,  and  for  five  years  a 
normal  class  for  intending  teachers,  which 
brought  the  instruction  of  the  school  to 
the  highest  standard.  Many  of  Mr. 
Thomas'  friends  frequently  wondered 
how  he  could  so  successfully  direct  so 
many  departments  of  the  church  and  keep 
them  so  thoroughly  abreast  of  the  times. 
His  absolute  sincerity  in  everything  he 
attempted  is  believed  to  have  been  the 
basis  of  his  success.  Often  after  a  strenu- 
ous day  or  night  in  his  religious  work, 
Mr.  Thomas  sought  relaxation  in  music. 
He  was  organist  for  his  church  for  many 
years.  He  spent  many  of  his  quiet 
moments  with  the  old  masters  at  his  pipe 
organ.  He  was  an  accomplished  musi- 
cian, but  played  chiefly  for  his  own 
amusement.  In  the  year  1870  he  orig- 
inated and  organized  the  Sunday  School 
Association  of  the  Diocese  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, of  which  from  the  year  1875  to  the 
date  of  his  death  he  was  a  vice-president, 
and  by  his  splendid  enthusiasm,  his  earn- 
est consecration,  and  his  unostentatious 
generosity,  did  very  much  to  make  it  the 
efficient  organization  it  is  to-day 

There  were  many  quiet  charities  in 
which  George  C.  Thomas  was  concerned 
that  were  practically  unknown.  In  addi- 
tion to  helping  many  young  men  over  the 
rough  edges  of  life,  he  also  enabled  many 
young  women  to  accomplish  their  ambi- 
tion by  providing  for  their  education. 
Next  to  the  charities  which  Mr.  Thomas 
fostered,  was  his  collection  of  books,  pic- 
tures, priceless  relics  and  art  treasures, 
which    form    a    collection    probably    un- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


equaled  in  any  other  private  collection  in 
America. 

George  C.  Thomas  was  a  member  of 
various  clubs,  among  them  the  Union 
League,  Art,  Corinthian  Yacht,  Merion 
Cricket,  Germantown  Cricket,  Philadel- 
phia Country,  Racquet  and  Church  clubs. 
He  made  frequent  cruises  on  his  yacht 
"Allegro"  or  his  schooner  "Ednada,"  and 
thus  won  recreation  from  business  cares. 

On  November  26,  1867,  Mr.  Thomas 
married,  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  in 
Holy  Trinity  Church,  the  Rev.  Phillips 
Brooks  officiating,  Ada  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  J.  Barlow  and  Elizabeth 
(Hirons)  Moorhead,  of  Philadelphia.  The 
biography  of  J.  Barlow  Moorhead,  to- 
gether with  his  portrait  and  the  Moor- 
head arms,  appears  in  this  work.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Thomas  were  the  parents  of  the 
following  children:  1.  Elizabeth  Moor- 
head, born  October  24,  1869,  died  March 
31,  1875.  2.  George  Clifford,  Jr..  born 
October  3,  1873 ;  educated  at  Episcopal 
Academy,  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  for  a  number  of  years  connected  with 
Drexel  &  Company,  bankers,  Philadel- 
phia ;  has  written  "The  Practical  Book  of 
Outdoor  Rose  Growing,"  now  in  its 
fourth  edition;  married,  July  6,  1901, 
Edna  H.  Ridge,  daughter  of  Joseph  Bet- 
ney  and  Annie  (Campbell)  Ridge,  of  Phil- 
adelphia, and  has  two  children:  George 
Clifford  (3rd),  born  April  13,  1905;  and 
Josephine  Moorhead,  born  April  14,  1907. 
George  C.  Thomas,  Jr.,  is  now  enrolled 
in  the  United  States  army,  being  captain 
in  the  Aviation  Corps.  3.  Sophie,  born 
February  7,  1876,  wife  of  Major  Walter 
Schuyler  Volkmar,  United  States  army, 
of  California ;  by  a  former  marriage  Mrs. 
Volkmar  has  a  son :  George  Clifford 
Thomas  Remington,  born  July  19,  1899. 
4.  Leonard  Moorhead,  born  March  2/, 
1878 ;  educated  in  Episcopal  Academy,  St. 
Paul's  School,  Concord,  New  Hampshire, 


graduated  from  Yale,  1901 ;  appointed  sec- 
retary to  the  United  States  Embassy  in 
Rome,  Italy,  for  five  years,  then  became 
First  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Le- 
gation. Madrid,  Spain,  resigning  from  this 
post  after  one  year ;  has  composed  a  num- 
ber of  pieces  of  music  ;  now  first  lieuten- 
ant. Interpreters'  Corps,  United  States 
army;  married,  January  26,  1910,  Blanche 
Oelrichs,  daughter  of  Charles  M.  and 
Blanche  (DeLoosey)  Oelrichs,  of  New 
York,  and  they  have  two  children :  Leon- 
ard Moorhead,  Jr.,  born  May  2,  191 1  ;  and 
Robin  May,  born  April  26,   191 5. 

The  death  of  George  C.  Thomas,  which 
occurred  April  21,  1909,  deprived  Phila- 
delphia of  one  of  her  most  valued  citi- 
zens. Among  the  many  hundreds  of  tri- 
butes paid  to  his  memory,  we.  quote  the 
following  editorial  from  a  Philadelphia 
paper : 

Banker,  philanthropist  and  churchman,  George 
C.  Thomas  has  enriched  far  more  than  himself 
during  a  long,  busy  and  successful  life.  He  be- 
gan with  the  advantages  of  fortune  and  he  used 
them  wisely,  shrewdly  and  with  high  success,  but 
he  did  far  more  than  merely  make  money  in 
business  and  in  banking.  He  held  high  stand- 
ards of  personal  integrity  and  business  honor. 
When  reverses  came  he  pleaded  no  legal  bar  to 
his  liabilities  and  his  success  through  life  was 
measured  by  no  man's  losses.  He  continued  the 
sound,  careful,  conservative  tradition  of  the 
banking  of  this  city  and  he  did  his  work  as  a 
banker  by  the  wise  and  fruitful  use  of  personal 
honor,  credit  and  resources  and  not  through 
banking  corporations  or  their  manipulation. 
Such  men  by  example  and  by  achievement 
strengthen  every  good  impulse  in  their  callings, 
lessen  the  force  and  peril  of  temptation  for 
others  and  by  rendering  investments  more  se- 
cure and  credit  more  stable,  stimulate  thrift, 
encourage  saving  and  give  hope  and  security 
to  multitudes.  The  whole  level  of  business 
transactions,  of  care  in  contracts  and  of  dili- 
gence and  prudence  in  dealing  with  the  invest- 
ment of  others,  is  raised  and  advanced  by  a 
banker  like  George  C.  Thomas.  Through  his 
honesty,  honor  and  prescience  other,  men  profit 
and    the    community    gains.     He    added    to    his 


pZftsA^*-d_^ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


large  gifts  and  he  gave  with  a  banker's  far-see- 
ing system.  He  understood  that  men  immeasur- 
ably increase  the  value  of  their  benefactions 
when  they  build  into  institutions  and  aid  and 
endow  organizations  that  live  after  them.  The 
Church  for  which  he  did  so  much,  the  Missions 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and  a  wide 
range  of  personal  charities,  profit  for  all  years 
to  come  by  his  generosity.  Still  more,  he  gave 
himself.  He  was  a  conspicuous  example  of  the 
many  American  laymen  to  whom  wealth  is  re- 
sponsibility and  not  privilege  and  who  give  to 
the  service,  the  services  and  the  institutions  of 
the  communion  to  which  they  belong,  a  daily 
diligent  labor,  more  valuable  than  all  their 
gifts.  Lives  were  lit  by  his  timely  aid,  men  and 
women  in  need,  in  perplexity  and  in  temptation 
had  from  him  the  wise  counsel,  whose  worth  his 
own  lavish  success  proved.  As  he  went  in  and 
out  among  men,  in  all  his  ways  and  work,  his 
acts,  his  utterances,  his  optimism  and  his  con- 
sistent life  made  all  who  knew  and  met  him 
more  awake  and  more  likely  to  lead  the  life 
which  fills  the  earth  with  good  deeds  because 
of  the  belief  that  better  than  this  earth  gives 
lies  beyond,  secure  and  steadfast. 

This  is  the  description  of  a  true  life 
— a  life  of  quiet  force,  high-minded  en- 
deavor and  large  benevolence,  a  life  that 
left  the  world  better  than  it  found  it. 
Such  was  the  life  of  George  Clifford 
Thomas. 


MOORHEAD,  Joel  Barlow, 

Leader  in  Important  Enterprises. 

The  Moorhead  family,  from  which  the 
late  J.  Barlow  Moorhead,  of  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  was  descended,  was  long 
established  in  Lanarkshire,  Scotland. 
The  name  in  the  early  period  was  spelled 
many  ways  :  Muirhead,  Muirehed,  Moor- 
head, and  Morehead,  being  some  of  them. 
The  family  seat  (or  free  barony)  in  Lan- 
ark was  known  as  "Lauchop." 

Sir  William  Muirhead,  of  Lauchop,  by 
his  wife,  Lady  Jane  Hay,  daughter  of 
Hay  of  Lacharret,  direct  ancestor  of  the 
Marquise  of  Tweeddale.  was  most  famous 
through     the    beauty     of     his     daughter 


Janet,  who  was  known  in  all  the  west  as 
the  "Bonnie  Lass  of  Lechbruanch."  Sir 
William  lived  prior  to  1450.  In  1469,  An- 
drew Muirhead,  of  this  family,  was  Lord 
Bishop  of  Glasgow,  and  bore  as  cogniz- 
ance three  acorns  on  a  bend. 

A  branch  of  this  family  was  settled 
at  Herbertshire,  County  Stirling,  and 
registered  their  arms  in  the  Court  of  the 
Lord  of  Lyon,  in  1718.  It  is  this  branch 
which  began  to  spell  the  name  Morehead, 
and  from  which  were  descended  three 
brothers  who  settled  in  the  North  of  Ire- 
land after  the  "Plantations  of  Ulster." 
Before  that  time,  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, several  members  of  the  family  had 
entered  England,  when  the  union  of  the 
Crown  of  Scotland  and  England  was  con- 
summated by  the  annexation  by  a  Scottish 
king  of  the  English  throne  to  his  own  pa- 
ternal throne  of  Scotland.  Among  the 
descendants  of  the  three  Moorhead  broth- 
ers who  entered  Ireland  as  gentlemen  col- 
onists was  a  William  Moorhead,  a  friend 
of  Lord  Marserene.  In  1710  that  noble- 
man mentions  him  in  a  letter  as  one  of 
the  subscribers  to  the  Antrim  racing  plate. 
The  arms  of  the  family  are : 

Arms — Argent,  on  a  bend  azure,  three  acorns 
or.  In  chief  a  man's  heart  proper  within  a  fet- 
ter-lock, sable. 

Crest — Two  hands  conjoined  grasping  a  two- 
handed  sword  proper. 

Motto — Auxilio  Deo. 

(I)  William  Moorhead,  the  founder  of 
the  Moorhead  family  in  Pennsylvania, 
was  a  member  of  this  family.  He  was 
born  in  County  Down,  near  Belfast,  in 
1774,  and  remained  in  Ireland  until  1798, 
when  he  emigrated  to  Pennsylvania  and 
settled  in  Lancaster  county.  After  resid- 
ing there  a  few  years  he  removed  to 
Dauphin  county,  where  in  1806  he  pur- 
chased a  property  on  the  banks  of  the 
Susquehanna  river,  about  twenty  miles 
above  Harrisburg.     For  many  years  this 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


place,  now  called  Halifax,  was  known  as 
Moorhead's  Ferry,  and,  as  the  main  road 
from  the  East  to  the  settlement  on  the 
Upper  Susquehanna  crossed  the  river  at 
this  place,  it  soon  became  a  point  of 
considerable  importance.  Here  William 
Moorhead  continued  to  reside  until  1815, 
being  widely  known  not  only  as  a 
successful  farmer  and  an  enterprising 
business  man,  but  as  a  gentleman  of  more 
than  ordinary  education  and  refinement. 
He  took  an  active  interest  in  the  politi- 
cal affairs  of  his  day,  and  was  one  of  the 
most  ardent  supporters  of  the  adminis- 
tration of  President  Madison,  by  whom  in 
1814  he  was  appointed  Collector  of  In- 
ternal Revenues  for  the  Tenth  District  of 
Pennsylvania  to  collect  the  direct  tax  im- 
posed to  meet  the  expenses  incurred  on 
account  of  the  second  war  with  Great 
Britain.  As  the  duties  of  this  office  com- 
pelled him  to  spend  most  of  his  time  at 
Harrisburg,  he  removed  with  his  family 
to  the  State  Capital  in  1815,  and  it  was 
there  that  he  died  suddenly  two  years 
later.  In  the  spring  following  his  death, 
the  widow,  with  her  six  surviving  chil- 
dren, returned  to  the  farm  at  Moorhead's 
Ferry,  but  as  the  estate  had  been  left  in 
a  most  unsettled  condition,  even  this 
property  had  to  be  sold.  Mrs.  Moorhead 
was  enabled  to  remain  as  a  tenant,  her 
eldest  son,  James  Kennedy  Moorhead, 
acting  as  manager  for  her. 

William  Moorhead  married,  March  18, 
1802,  Elizabeth  (Kennedy)  Young,  relict 
of  John  Young,  and  daughter  of  James 
and  Jane  (Maxwell)  Kennedy,  of  Lancas- 
ter county,  Pennsylvania.  She  died,  July 
24,  1847,  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania. 
(See  Kennedy  line).  Issue  of  Wil- 
liam Moorhead  and  Elizabeth  (Kennedy- 
Young)  Moorhead:  1.  Ann  Moorhead, 
born  October  24,  1804.  died  February 
24,  1808.  2.  Eliza  Moorhead,  born  March 
15,  1805,  died  August  29,  1858;    married. 


January  24,  1826,  William  Montgomery, 
born  in  1791,  died  in  1858.  3.  James  Ken- 
nedy Moorhead,  born  September  7,  1806, 
died  March  6,  1884.  4.  William  Garro- 
way  Moorhead,  born  July  7,  181 1,  died 
January  13,  1895.  5.  Joel  Barlow  Moor- 
head (see  below).  6.  Adeline  Moorhead, 
died  unmarried.  7.  Henry  Clay  Moor- 
head, born  March  19,  1815 ;  died  unmar- 
ried, April  15,  1861 ;  he  was  a  graduate  of 
West  Point  Military  Academy  and  served 
in  the  United  States  army.  He  studied 
law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He 
practised  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania, 
until  invalided. 

(II)  Joel  Barlow  Moorhead,  son  of 
William  and  Elizabeth  (Kennedy-Young) 
Moorhead,  was  born  at  Moorhead's  Ferry, 
Pennsylvania,  April  13,  181 3.  Associated 
with  his  brother,  James  Kennedy  Moor- 
head, he  joined  in  the  work  of  construct- 
ing the  Pennsylvania  canal,  and  was  also 
connected  with  the  building  of  the  Phila- 
delphia &  Columbia  and  the  Portage  rail- 
ways, the  development  of  the  Mononga- 
hela  Slack  Water  Navigation  Company, 
and  the  building  of  the  earliest  bridges 
over  great  waterways.  In  1843  J-  Barlow 
Moorhead  became  interested  in  the  im- 
provement of  the  navigation  of  the  Mon- 
ongahela  river  by  a  series  of  pools,  dams 
and  locks,  popularly  known  as  "slack- 
water  navigation,"  a  work  which  he  com- 
pleted in  1844.  He  opened  up  a  vast 
extent  of  territory  to  the  advantage  of 
navigation,  the  locks  being  of  sufficient 
capacity  to  transport  great  steamships ; 
and  he  was  one  of  the  largest  stockhold- 
ers of  the  enterprise  which  is  now  owned 
by  the  Monongahela  Navigation  Com- 
pany. In  1850  he  effected  a  contract  with 
the  Sunbury  &  Erie  Railway  Company 
for  the  construction  of  a  line  from  Sun- 
bury  to  Williamsport,  which  was  finished 
in  1855. 

In  1856  J.  Barlow  Moorhead  moved  to 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  the 
year  following  became  interested  in  the 
iron  business  at  Conshohocken,  purchas- 
ing the  Merion  blast  furnace  from  Ste- 
phen (Merion)  Caldwell.  In  1872  he 
added  a  new  furnace  and  in  this  business 
he  became  very  successful,  acquiring  a 
large  fortune.  He  was  vestryman  of  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  was  one  of  the  founders  and 
builders  of  the  beautiful  Holy  Trinity 
Church,  in  Spring  Lake,  New  Jersey, 
where  was  his  summer  home.  A  Demo- 
crat until  1861,  he  became  a  Union  Re- 
publican when  the  Civil  War  broke  out, 
and  remained  attached  to  the  Republican 
party  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
His  death  occurred  in  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, October  25,  1889. 

J.  Barlow  Moorhead  married.  Febru- 
ary 7,  1837,  Elizabeth  Hirons,  who  was 
born  April  4,  1813,  and  died  February  7, 
1890;  she  was  the  eldest  child  of  John 
and  Ann  Ferris  (Gilpin)  Hirons.  (See 
Gilpin  line).  Issue  of  J.  Barlow  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Hirons)  Moorhead:  1.  Charles 
Hirons  Moorhead,  born  January  31,  1840, 
died  January  7,  1905 ;  married  Lucy 
Phelps  Hickman  ;  issue :  J.  Barlow  Moor- 
head, Jr.,  died  aged  twenty-one  years.  2. 
Ada  Elizabeth  Moorhead,  born  December 
10.  1843 !  married.  November  26,  1867, 
George  Clifford  Thomas  ;  (see  biography 
of  George  C.  Thomas,  in  this  work).  3. 
Clara  Alice  Moorhead,  born  March  13, 
1846:  married,  April  23,  1868,  Jay  Cooke, 
Jr.,  of  Philadelphia ;  died  December  16, 
1912;  banker.  4.  Caroline  Frances  Moor- 
head, born  March  13,  1846;  married  Jo- 
seph Earlston  Thropp,  of  Philadelphia. 

At  the  time  of  the  death  of  J.  Barlow 
Moorhead.  his  friend,  the  late  Colonel 
Alexander  K.  McClure,  wrote  the  follow- 
in?  tribute  to  his  memory,  in  the  columns 
of  the  "Philadelphia  Times-" 


A  Family  of  Mark. — The  death  of  Joel  Barlow 
Moorhead.  one  of  the  leading  iron  manufac- 
turers of  this  city  and  state,  recalls  the  record 
of  one  of  the  most  noted  families  in  Pennsyl- 
vania in  the  great  progress  achieved  by  our 
people  during  the  last  half  century.  The  father 
of  Mr.  Moorhead  was  a  man  of  prominence,  as 
is  evidenced  by  his  appointment  as  Internal 
Revenue  Collector  by  President  Madison  in 
1815.  Three  of  his  sons  have  made  their  names 
memorable  as  imposing  factors  in  the  material 
advancement  of  the  State.  Joel  B.  Moorhead, 
whose  death  is  now  lamented  in  this  city,  James 
K.  Moorhead,  who  died  several  years  ago  in 
Pittsburgh,  and  William  G.  Moorhead,  yet  lives 
in  West  Philadelphia,  all  came  to  early  man- 
hood just  when  the  era  of  public  improvements 
had  dawned  that  developed  our  Canal  System. 

The  construction  of  a,  line  of  railroad  and 
canal  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburgh  over 
sixty  years  ago,  required  more  breadth  of  grasp 
and  more  courage  than  did  the  construction  of 
the  Pacific  railways  nearly  forty  years  later,  and 
the  young  Moorheads  were  in  the  forefront  not 
only  in  conceiving  and  perfecting  the  system  of 
these  improvements  but  also  in  constructing 
them.  They  were  large  contractors  in  the  con- 
struction of  both  the  Philadelphia  &  Columbia 
and  the  Portage  Railroads  and  also  of  the  canal; 
and  the  Monongahela  slack-water  navigation 
and  the  earliest  advanced  bridges  over  great 
rivers  are  inseparably  connected  with  the  skill, 
energy,  and  courage  of  the  Moorheads.  The 
present  generation  knows  little  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  men  who  inspired  and  led  in  prog- 
ress three-score  years  ago,  and  all  that  was 
done  in  the  early  days  is  now  accepted  as  only 
the  logical  and  inevitable,  while  only  the  pres- 
ent is  credited  with  truly  great  advancement; 
but  those  who  can  yet  recall  the  struggle  of 
some  sixty  years  ago  to  develop  great  highways 
as  arteries  of  trade,  well  apprecate  the  fact  that 
no  undertaking  of  modern  times,  colossal  as 
many  of  them  have  been,  equalled  the  courage 
and  skill  in  utilizing  resources  which  were  nec- 
essary to  bring  Pennsylvania  up  to  the  plane  of 
a  liberal  system  of  internal   improvements. 

Soon  after  the  completion  of  the  line  from 
this  city  to  Pittsburgh,  the  State  narrowly 
escaped  the  stain  of  repudiation,  and  for  some 
years  it  was  a  disputed  question  whether  Penn- 
sylvania could  maintain  her  credit  with  $40,000,- 
000  of  debt.  Now,  both  the  rude  improvements 
of  that  day  and  the  debt  incurred  in  their  con- 
struction belong  to  the  past,  and  the  men  who 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


were  the  'bold  pioneers  in  the  improvements 
which  now  extend  to  every  centre  of  population 
in  the  State,  are  almost  forgotten  in  the 
grandeur  of  their  perfected  work. 

Of  the  three  Moorhead  brothers  who  are  so 
creditably  identified  with  the  early  progress  of 
the  State,  Joel  B.  has  just  passed  away  after  a 
long  residence  in  this  city  as  a  successful  iron 
manufacturer.  James  K.  was  always  more  or 
less  active  in  politics,  and  he  entered  Congress 
as  one  of  Allegheny's  representatives  in  1858 
and  served  with  great  usefulness  for  ten  years, 
covering  the  entire  period  of  the  war.  He  and 
Joel  B.  both  lived  with  the  partners  of  their 
youth  to  celebrate  their  golden  weddings.  Wil- 
liam G.  is  best  known  to  the  people  of  to-day  as 
the  partner  of  Jay  Cooke  in  his  great  banking- 
house,  but  he  had  been  one  of  the  foremost  men 
of  the  state  before  that  house  was  founded.  He 
was  the  first  president  of  the  Philadelphia  and 
Erie  Railroad  who  could  command  the  means 
and  perfect  the  needed  measures  for  the  com- 
pletion of  that  long-delayed  and  important  en- 
terprise, and  he  had  represented  our  country 
abroad  with  eminent  credit.  It  is  rare,  indeed, 
to  find  a  family  that  has  so  indelibly  and  so 
creditably  written  its  records  in  the  best  ad- 
vancement of  a  great  Commonwealth  as  has 
the   Moorhead   family  in   Pennsylvania. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  foregoing 
was  written,  the  "Bulletin  of  the  Ameri- 
can Iron  and  Steel  Association,"  of  Phil- 
adelphia, under  date. of  October  30,  1889, 
said: 

Death  of  J.  B.  Moorhead.— We  are  again  called 
upon  to  record  the  death  of  another  of  the  old 
friends  and  executive  officers  of  the  American 
Iron  and  Steel  Association.  On  Friday  last, 
October  25.  Mr.  Joel  Barlow  Moorhead,  presi- 
dent of  the  Merion  Iron  Company,  died  at  the 
residence  of  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  George  C. 
Thomas,  at  Chestnut  Hill,  Philadelphia,  in  his 
seventy-seventh  year.  Our  deceased  friend  was 
a  man  of  firm  convictions,  great  energy,  excep- 
tional business  sagacity,  unswerving  uprightness, 
simple,  and  gentle  manners,  and  great  kindness 
of  heart.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the  execu- 
tive committee  of  the  American  Iron  and  Steel 
Association   for  about   twenty  years. 

(Kennedy  Lineage). 

Elizabeth  ( Kennedy-Young)  Moorhead, 
wife  of  William  Moorhead,  was  descended 


from  the  noble  house  of  Cassilis,  in  Scot- 
land. Her  father,  James  Kennedy,  a 
native  of  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania, 
was  a  son  of  William  Kennedy,  who  was 
born  in  the  North  of  Ireland  in  1695.  Her 
mother  was  Jane  Maxwell,  a  daughter  of 
John  Maxwell,  of  New  Jersey,  and  a  sis- 
ter of  General  William  Maxwell,  of  the 
Revolution.  Her  grandfather,  William 
Kennedy,  was  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Kennedy,  who  was  moderator  of  the  gen- 
eral synod  of  Ulster  in  1696,  and  died  in 
Ireland,  January  20,  1716.  The  Rev. 
Thomas  Kennedy  was  a  son  of  Colonel 
Gilbert  Kennedy,  and  was  in  Ireland  with 
the  Scotch  troops  in  1645  when  he  was 
only  a  captain,  and  was  very  active  in 
helping  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  in  Ire- 
land. Colonel  Gilbert  Kennedy  was  a 
son  of  the  Laird  of  Drumurchie,  and  a 
brother  of  John  Kennedy,  the  sixth  Earl 
of  Cassilis.  He  was  with  Cromwell  at 
the  battle  of  Marston  Moor.  His  niece, 
Margaret  Kennedy,  daughter  of  his  elder 
brother,  the  sixth  Earl  of  Cassilis,  was  the 
wife  of  Dr.  Gilbert  Burnett,  Bishop  of 
Salisbury. 

The  house  of  Cassilis  was  descended 
from  Sir  Gilbert  de  Carrick,  who  obtained 
a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Kennedy  in  Ayr- 
shire, Scotland.  Sir  John  Kennedy,  desig- 
nated son  of  Sir  Gilbert  de  Carrick  in 
many  writs,  obtained  a  confirmation 
charter  of  the  lands  of  Castlys  from  King 
David  II.  His  son.  Sir  Gilbert  Kennedy, 
was  one  of  the  hostages  to  the  English  in 
1357.  This  Gilbert  Kennedy,  by  his  first 
wife,  Marian  Sandilas,  daughter  of  Sir 
James  Sandilas,  of  Calder,  was  the  father 
of  Thomas  Kennedy,  of  Bargany ;  by  his 
second  wife  he  was  the  father  of  Sir  James 
Kennedy,  who  married  Mary  Stewart,  a 
daughter  of  King  Robert  III.  The  eldest 
son  of  this  younger  son  became  the  first 
Lord  Kennedy,  who  was  the  grandfather 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


of  David  Kennedy,  the  third  Lord  and 
first  Earl  of  Cassilis. 

The  first  Earl  of  Cassilis  fell  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Flodden  Field  in  1513;  the  second 
Earl  was  killed  in  1527,  while  trying  to 
rescue  King  James  V  from  the  Earl  of 
Arran ;  the  third  Earl  died  in  Dieppe  in 
1558,  while  on  a  mission  to  France  to 
assist  at  the  marriage  of  Mary,  Queen  of 
Scots,  with  the  dauphin,  afterward  King 
Francis  II.;  the  fourth  Earl  died  in  1576, 
and  the  fifth  Earl,  after  a  turbulent  life, 
died  in  1616,  without  issue.  John  Ken- 
nedy, fifth  Earl  of  Cassilis,  was  succeeded 
by  his  nephew,  John  Kennedy,  son  of 
Gilbert  Kennedy,  Laird  of  Drumurchie. 

Irish  archaeologists  trace  the  origin  of 
the  Kennedy  family  to  Donchuan,  brother 
of  Brian  Boru,  but  some  of  the  Scotch 
genealogists  are  content  with  one  Ken- 
neth, and  others  find  the  beginning  with 
Duncan  de  Carrick,  who  owned  a  consid- 
erable estate  in  Ayrshire  at  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  first  of  the 
name  on  record  are  Alexander  Kennedy, 
canon  of  Glasgow,  and  Hurve  Kennedy, 
chevalier  of  Lanarkshire,  who  swore 
fealty  to  King  Edward  I  of  England. 
These  names  appear  on  the  "Ragman 
Roll"  for  1296. 

James  Kennedy,  son  of  William  and 
Marion  Henderson  Kennedy,  born  in 
Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania,  in  1730,  mar- 
ried, in  1 761,  Jane  Maxwell,  daughter  of 
John  Maxwell,  and  a  sister  of  General 
William    Maxwell.*      William    Kennedy, 


•General  William  Maxwell  was  the  chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Safety  of  Sussex  county. 
New  Jersey.  He  was  brigadier-general  in  the 
army  of  Washington:  a  noble  soldier  and 
patriot;  served  in  the  French  War,  1755-1759,  as 
an  officer  of  the  Provincial  troops;  was  with 
Braddock  when  that  officer  was  defeated  at 
Fort  Duquesne,  and  fought  with  Wolfe  in  the 
attack  upon  Quebec.  Upon  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  between  England  and  her  American  colo- 
nies he  resigned  his  commission  in  the  English 
army  and  marched  on  foot  to  Trenton,  where  he 
tendered  his  services  to  the  Provincial  Congress, 
accepting  a  colonel's  command,  but  was  soon 
promoted  to  brigadier-general.  He  served  with 
distinction  in  the  battles  of  Germantown  and 
Monmouth. 


son  of  James  and  Jane  (Maxwell)  Ken- 
nedy, born  in  1766,  died  in  Easton,  Penn- 
sylvania, in  1850;  married,  January  28, 
1798,  Sarah  Stewart  Randall,  then  only 
fifteen  years  of  age.  He  gave  his  services 
to  the  Continental  forces  as  an  aid  to  his 
uncle,  General  William  Maxwell.  Politi- 
cally a  Democrat,  he  represented  the  coun- 
ties of  Sussex  and  Warren  in  the  Legis- 
lature of  New  Jersey  several  successive 
sessions  and  presided  with  honor  and 
dignity  over  the  upper  house.  In  the 
same  counties  he  served  for  many  years 
as  judge  of  the  courts. 

(The  Gilpin  Line). 

This  ancient  and  honorable  race  of 
Anglo-Norman  origin  has  in  the  succes- 
sive generations  given  to  the  world  many 
statesmen,  warriors  and  divines,  and  has 
exercised  no  small  influence  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  learning  and  art.  Both  in 
England  and  American  annals  the  name  is 
a  prominent  one,  its  original  form  of  de 
Gylpyn  having  been  gradually  modernized 
by  dropping  the  "de"  and  changing  the 
"y"  to  "i."  There  is  a  tradition  that  the 
family  was  planted  in  England  by  Bert 
de  Gylpyn,  who  went  thither  in  the  train 
of  William  the  Conqueror,  and  whose 
crest  was,  as  an  old  rhyme  says, 

The  rebus  of  his  name, 
A  pineapple — a  pine  of  gold. 

Richard  de  Gylpyn  was  the  first  of  the 
family  of  whom  we  have  authentic 
knowledge.  He  displayed  signal  courage 
in  slaying  a  wild  boar  which  had  com- 
mitted great  devastation  in  Cumberland 
and  Westmoreland,  and  as  a  reward  was 
granted  by  the  Baron  of  Kendal  the 
estate  of  Kentmere,  situated  in  the  latter 
county.  The  Baron,  like  most  of  the 
nobles  of  that  time,  could  neither  read  nor 
write,  and  therefore  on  going  to  Runny- 
mede  to  assist  in  wresting  Magna  Charta 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


from  King  John,  took  Richard  de  Gylpyn 
with  him  as  secretary.  For  this  service, 
as  well  as  for  his  other  achievements,  he 
was  knighted,  adopting  the  arms  which 
have  ever  since  been  borne  by  his  de- 
scendants : 

Arms — Or  a  boar  statant  sable,  langued  and 
tusked  gules. 

Crest — A  dexter  arm  embovved,  in  armor 
proper,  the  naked  hand  grasping  a  pine  branch 
fesswise  vert. 

Motto — Dictis  factisque  simplex. 

The  estate  was  increased  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  III.  by  the  grant  of  Peter  de 
Bruys  of  the  Manor  of  Ulwithwaite  to 
Richard,  the  grandson  of  the  first  of  that 
name.  This  grant,  written  in  Latin,  is 
still  preserved  by  the  English  head  of  the 
family.  Kentmere  remained  in  the  family 
until  the  civil  wars  of  the  time  of  Charles 
I.,  when  members  of  the  family  were  fight- 
ing on  both  sides.  About  the  same  period 
another  Richard  Gilpin  purchased  Scaleby 
Castle,  near  Carlisle,  which  has  been  in 
the  family  ever  since,  although  it  is  not 
now  owned  by  a  Gilpin,  but  has  passed 
into  the  female  branch. 

Among  the  most  distinguished  of  those 
who  have  shed  lustre  on  the  family  name 
was  Bernard  Gilpin,  often  called  "The 
Apostle  of  the  North."  Brought  up  a  Ro- 
man Catholic,  he  was  made  rector  of 
Houghton,  but  before  the  death  of  Queen 
Mary  he  became  satisfied  with  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Reformation,  and  until  his 
death  wielded  an  immense  influence  in 
ecclesiastical  affairs.  He  was  summoned 
to  appear  before  Dr.  Bonner,  Bishop  of 
London,  to  stand  trial  for  heresy,  and  on 
the  journey  fell  from  his  horse  and  broke 
his  leg.  Before  he  was  able  to  appear 
before  the  judges,  Queen  Mary  died,  the 
reformers  came  into  power,  and  he  had 
nothing  to  fear.  In  those  turbulent  times 
Bernard,  contrary  to  custom,  went  un- 
armed and  fearless,  and  was  noted  for  his 


unflinching  devotion  to  the  people  and  to 
what  he  considered  his  duty.  On  one 
occasion,  upon  entering  a  church,  he  saw 
a  gauntlet  suspended  in  mid-air — a  chal- 
lenge of  some  trooper  in  the  building. 
Taking  the  glove  with  him.  he  said  dur- 
ing the  sermon,  "I  see  there  is  one  among 
you  who  has,  even  in  this  sacred  place, 
hung  up  a  glove  in  defiance.'-  Then,  dis- 
playing it.  he  added,  "I  challenge  him  to 
compete  with  me  in  acts  of  Christian 
charity,"  flinging  it,  as  he  spoke,  upon  the 
floor.  Queen  Elizabeth  offered  him  the 
bishopric  of  Carlisle,  which  he  declined, 
preferring  to  preach  the  Reformation  and 
endow  schools.  He  was  a  spiritual  guide, 
beloved  by  old  and  young  alike. 

A  brother  of  Bernard  Gilpin  was  Wil- 
liam Gilpin,  from  whom  the  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  branch  of  the  family  is  de- 
scended. He  married  Elizabeth  Wash- 
ington, of  Hall  Heal,  a  collateral  ances- 
tress of  George  Washington,  first  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  William  Gil- 
pin died  and  was  buried  at  Kendal,  Jen- 
uary  23,  1577. 

(I)  Thomas  Gilpin,  of  Warborough, 
was  a  colonel  in  the  Parliamentary  army 
and  fought  at  the  battle  of  Worcester, 
September  3.  165 1.  He  afterward  joined 
the  Society  of  Friends,  and  for  forty 
years  was  a  preacher. 

(II)  Joseph  Gilpin,  sixteen  generations 
from  Richard  Gylpyn.  son  of  Thomas 
Gilpin,  was  the  founder  of  the  American 
branch  of  the  family.  He  was  born  in 
1664,  and  like  his  father  was  a  Friend. 
He  emigrated  in  1696  to  the  Province 
of  Pennsylvania  and  settled  in  Chester 
county,  his  home  in  England  having  been 
in  Dorchester,  County  Oxford.  In  the 
new  land  Joseph  Gilpin,  after  the  manner 
of  Friends,  lived  in  perfect  harmony  and 
friendship  with  his  Indian  neighbors.  It 
has  been  believed  and  handed  down  that 
his  philanthropy  and  patriotism  were  not 


£■»,  SySG  **/***»* 


r/6'o  /#u 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


surpassed  by  any  in  the  country.  Great 
numbers  of  emigrants,  principally  Friends, 
on  coming  over,  were  kindly  received  and 
entertained  at  his  house  week  after  week, 
and  he  cheerfully  devoted  a  good  portion 
of  his  time  for  several  years  in  assisting 
them  to  find  suitable  situations  and  to 
get  their  lands  properly  cleared.  Part  of 
his  house  is  still  standing,  and  the  last  of 
the  property  passed  out  of  the  family  less 
than  fifty  years  ago.  It  was  situated 
at  Birmingham  meeting-house,  on  the 
Brandywine,  and  the  house  is  said  to 
have  been  the  headquarters  of  General 
Howe.  Joseph  Gilpin  married,  February 
23,  1692,  in  Baghurst,  Southampton,  Eng- 
land, Hannah  Glover,  the  maiden  name  of 
whose  mother  was  Alice  Lamboll ;  she 
died  January  12,  1757.  Of  the  fifteen  chil- 
dren of  this  issue,  one  only  died  under 
sixty  years  of  age,  and  at  the  time  of 
Hannah  Gilpin's  death  one  hundred  and 
twenty-three  of  her  descendants  were  liv- 
ing. Among  these  children  of  Joseph  and 
Hannah  (Glover)  Gilpin  were  two  sons: 
Samuel,  from  whom  was  descended  Wil- 
liam Gilpin,  Governor  of  Colorado ;  Jo- 
seph, mentioned  below.  Joseph  Gilpin, 
the  emigrant,  died  November  9,  1741. 

(Ill)  Joseph  (2)  Gilpin,  son  of  Joseph 
(1)  and  Hannah  (Glover)  Gilpin,  was 
born  March  21,  1704,  and  in  1761  removed 
to  Wilmington,  Delaware.  He  married, 
December  17,  1729,  Mary  Caldwell,  and 
they  were  the  parents  of  twelve  children, 
among  them  Hannah,  who  married  John 
Grubb  (see  Grubb  Line)  and  Vincent  Gil- 
pin, the  progenitor  of  the  Philadelphia 
line.  Joseph  Gilpin,  the  father,  died  De- 
cember 31,  1792. 

To  this  generation  of  the  Gilpins  be- 
longs a  name  illustrious  in  art,  that  of 
Benjamin  West,  who  succeeded  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  as  president  of  the  Royal  Acad- 
emy. John  West,  the  father  of  Benja- 
min, was  the   son  of  Thomas   and   Ann 


(Gilpin)  West,  the  latter  being  sister  of 
Thomas  Gilpin,  of  Warborough,  the  Par- 
liamentary colonel.  It  is  probable  that 
to  this  generation  belongs  also  George 
Gilpin,  a  descendant  of  Joseph  Gilpin,  the 
emigrant.  George  Gilpin  settled  in  Alex- 
andria, Virginia,  and  was  a  friend  of 
Washington.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  he  was  made  colonel 
of  the  Fairfax  militia,  and  was  present 
at  the  battle  of  Dorchester  Heights.  Af- 
ter the  war  he  was  interested  with  Wash- 
ington in  some  navigation  experiments  on 
the  Potomac,  and  at  the  funeral  of  the 
first  President,  George  Gilpin  was  one  of 
the  pallbearers. 

(IV)  Vincent  Gilpin,  son  of  Joseph  (2) 
and  Mary  (Caldwell)  Gilpin,  was  born 
December  8,  1732.  He  was  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Wilmington,  Delaware,  and 
was  assistant  burgess  of  that  city  in  1773. 
He  married,  December  6,  1758,  Abigail 
Woodward,  and  died  August  5,  1810.  Of 
their  eight  children  three  were  sons,  who 
married  and  left  issue  :  Edward  ;  James  ; 
and  William. 

(V)  Edward  Gilpin,  eldest  child  of 
Vincent  and  Abigail  (Woodward)  Gilpin, 
was  born  April  27,  1760,  and  died  April 
15,  1844.  He  was  assistant  burgess  of 
Wilmington  in  1791,  1797  and  1799.  He 
married,  November  22, 1788,  Lydia  Grubb, 
daughter  of  Samuel  Grubb,  and  was  the 
father  of  nine  children,  several  of  whom 
moved  to  Philadelphia  and  established 
the  Gilpin  name  a  second  time  as  an  in- 
fluential and  abiding  factor  in  Quaker 
City  life. 

(VI)  Ann  Ferris  Gilpin,  born  May  23, 
1791,  died  March  21,  1871.  eldest  child 
of  Edward  and  Lydia  (Grubb)  Gilpin, 
married  John  Hirons,  September  1,  1812. 
John  Hirons  was  son  of  John  and  Eliza- 
beth (Roberts)  Hirons. 

(VII)  Elizabeth  Hirons,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Ann  Ferris  (Gilpin)  Hi- 


13 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


rons,  was  born  April  4,  1813,  died  Febru- 
ary 7,  1890;  married,  February  7,  1837, 
Joel  Barlow  Moorhead,  born  April  13, 
181 3,  died  October  25,  1889,  one  of  the 
noted  ironmasters  of  Pennsylvania.  (See 
Moorhead  line). 

(VIII)  Ada  Elizabeth  Moorhead,  born 
December  10,  1843,  daughter  of  Joel  Bar- 
low and  Elizabeth  (Hirons)  Moorhead, 
became  the  wife  of  George  Clifford 
Thomas,  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania. 
(See  biography  of  George  C.  Thomas,  in 
this  work). 

(The  Grubb  Line). 

This  family  is  a  very  old  one  in  Eng- 
land, and  the  name,  spelled  in  the  early 
records  either  Grubbe  or  Grubb,  appears 
in  the  ancient  records  of  Kent,  Cornwall, 
Hertfordshire,  and  other  English  coun- 
ties, as  early  as  1300,  and  in  some  in- 
stances still  earlier.  The  English  stock 
generally  is  of  Danish  derivation.  The 
Royal  Archives  at  Copenhagen  show  that 
the  Grubbs  have  been  since  1127  one  of 
the  oldest  and  at  times  most  distinguished 
noble  families  of  Denmark,  and  connected 
with  many  families  of  high  rank  in  Ger- 
many and  Austria. 

(I)  John  Grubb,  the  most  prominent  of 
the  family  to  settle  in  the  New  World, 
was  born  in  Cornwall,  England,  in  1652, 
and  came  to  the  Delaware  river  in  the 
ship  "Kent,"  in  1677.  He  obtained  a 
grant  of  land  at  Upland,  now  Chester, 
Pennsylvania,  1679,  and  at  Grubb's  Land- 
ing, New  Castle  county,  now  Delaware, 
in  1682,  and  subsequently  elsewhere,  in 
both  the  Lower  counties,  as  Delaware  was 
then  known,  and  in  Pennsylvania.  John 
Grubb  belonged  to  a  county  family  of  note 
in  Wiltshire,  England,  which  had  settled 
in  that  country  as  early  as  1550,  and  much 
earlier  in  Hertfordshire,  where  Henry 
Grubbe  in  1506  married  Joan,  daughter 
of  Sir  Richard  Radcliffe,  who  died  in 
1485.  on  Bosworth   Field,  in  support  of 


King  Richard  III.,  and  whose  descendants 
are  still  prominent  citizens  of  the  neigh- 
boring counties  in  England.  The  ances- 
try of  John  Grubb,  of  Grubb's  Landing, 
New  Castle  county,  has  been  traced  to 
Henry  Grubbe,  Esq.,  who  was  elected  a 
member  of  Parliament  for  Devizes,  Wilt- 
shire, in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  (1571).  He  died  in 
1581,  and  was  the  ancestor  of  Walter 
Grubbe,  member  of  Parliament,  1685  ;  and 
of  General  John  Heneage  Hunt  Grubbe. 
commander  at  Quebec  ;  of  Major  Thomas 
Hunt  Grobbe,  who  was  wounded  in  bat- 
tle under  General  Lord  Packenham,  at 
New  Orleans,  1815;  and  of  Admiral  Sir 
Walter  Hunt  Grubbe,  K.  B.,  K.  C.  B.,  of 
the  Royal  Navy,  England. 

Thomas  Grubbe,  Esq.  (eldest  son  of  the 
said  Henry  Grubbe)  of  Potterne,  Devizes, 
Wiltshire,  died  there  February  2,  1617. 
His  second  son, 

Thomas  Grubbe,  M.  A.,  born  at  Pot- 
terne, Devizes,  Wiltshire,  1581 ;  graduated 
at  Oxford  University,  and  became  rector 
of  Cranfield,  Bedfordshire, 

John  Grubb,  Esq..  second  son  of 
Thomas  Grubbe,  M.  A.,  born  in  Bedford- 
shire, England,  1610,  died  at  Potterne, 
Wiltshire,  1667,  was  a  royalist  and  an 
adherent  of  the  Church  of  England  dur- 
ing the  Civil  WTar,  and  after  the  execution 
of  Charles  I.  settled  in  Cornwall,  where 
he  married  Helen  Vivian,  and  was  the 
father  of  John  Grubb,  the  early  settler 
on  the  Delaware,  who  was  born  in  Corn- 
wall, 1652,  and  whose  wife  was  Frances 
Vane,  of  Kent  county,  England. 

This    John    Grubb,    son    of    John    and 
Helen    (Vivian)    Grubb,  the  pioneer  set- 
tler,   with    William    Penn,    Richard    Buf-      ] 
fington,  and  others,  signed  the  Plan  of      , 
Government   for   the   Province  of   West 
Jersey,  bearing  date  March  3,   1676,  and      j 
at   the   age   of   twenty-five   years   sought      j 
his    fortune    and    a    career    in    the    New      1 


14 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


World.  Whether  he  emigrated  direct 
from  Cornwall  is  not  certainly  known. 
As  his  father  was  buried  in  1667  in  the 
family  churchyard  at  Potterne,  Wilt- 
shire, it  is  possible  that  John  may  have 
lived  in  Wiltshire  at  about  the  time  he 
came  to  America.  This  is  not  unlikely, 
inasmuch  as  John  Buckley  and  Morgan 
Drewett,  whose  land  immediately  ad- 
joined his  at  Grubb's  Landing,  on  the 
Delaware,  as  well  as  others  among  his 
friends  and  contemporaries  who  resided 
at  Marcus  Hook,  Pennsylvania,  and  the 
neighboring  townships,  all  emigrated  from 
Wiltshire. 

During  his  thirty  years  of  rugged  and 
arduous  pioneer  life  on  the  Delaware,  he 
proved  himself  to  be  a  man  of  enterpris- 
ing, vigorous  and  sterling  qualities,  and 
of  practical  business  ability.  He  was 
prominent  and  influential  in  his  section, 
and  successful  in  his  career  as  legislator, 
magistrate,  farmer  and  leather  manufac- 
turer. He  not  only  cleared  and  cultivated 
the  various  tracts  of  land  he  owned,  but 
he  also,  in  practical  recognition  of  the 
needs  of  a  pioneer  people,  erected  a  tan- 
nery near  Grubb's  Landing,  and  was  one 
of  the  earliest  manufacturers  of  leather  in 
Penn's  new  province.  He  also,  conform- 
ably to  the  provisions  of  Penn's  very  prac- 
tical law  and  the  custom  of  the  most 
prominent  settlers,  had  each  of  his  sons 
taught  a  practical  trade,  in  order  that  they 
might  be  prepared  for  every  contingency 
incident  to  those  early  times.  He  was 
commissioned  a  justice  of  New  Castle 
county.  May  2,  1693,  and  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Colonial  Assembly,  1692- 
98-1700.  On  June  3,  1698,  Alice  Gilpin, 
widow  of  Thomas  Gilpin,  conveyed  to 
him  one  hundred  and  eight  acres  of  land 
near  Grubb's  Landing,  on  the  Dela- 
ware. In  1703-4,  he  purchased  land  at 
Marcus  Hook,  Chichester  township,  Ches- 
ter county,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was 


living  at  the  time  of  making  his  will  in 
which  he  is  named  as  of  the  county  of 
Chester.  He  died  at  Marcus  Hook, 
March,  1708,  in  his  fifty-sixth  year,  and 
was  buried  in  St.  Martin's  churchyard. 
He  was  not  a  Quaker,  but  like  his  ances- 
tors, adhered  to  the  Church  of  England. 
His  will  was  proved,  filed  and  recorded 
in  the  Register  of  Wills  Office  at  Philadel- 
phia, March  26,  1708,  but  as  he  was  a 
large  landowner  in  New  Castle  county,  a 
copy  thereof  was  filed  in  the  Wills  Office 
at  New  Castle,  Delaware.  Frances  (Vane) 
Grubb,  of  Grubb's  Landing,  married 
(second)  Richard  Buffiington,  her  first 
husband's  friend  and  associate,  as  has 
been  shown  by  deeds  signed  by  them 
and  by  other  circumstances,  and  there- 
after lived  in  Bradford  township,  Chester 
county,  where  she  died  prior  to  1721. 
John  and  Frances  (Vane)  Grubb  were 
the  parents  of  the  following  children : 
Emanuel ;  John,  see  below ;  Charity, 
married  Richard  Beeson ;  Phebe;  Joseph; 
Henry;  Samuel;  Nathaniel;  Peter. 

(II)  John  Grubb,  second  son  of  John 
and  Frances  (Vane)  Grubb,  born  at 
Grubb's  Landing,  New  Castle  county, 
Delaware,  November,  1684,  was  an  ex- 
tensive landowner  in  New  Castle  county. 
In  addition  to  several  other  tracts  in 
Brandywine  Hundred,  he  obtained  fifty- 
six  acres  of  Stockdale's  plantation  on 
the  Delaware  river,  at  Grubb's  Land- 
ing, and  two  hundred  acres  of  an  ad- 
joining tract  called  "Mile  End,"  on  the 
division  of  lands  in  1735,  between  himself, 
his  elder  brother,  Emanuel,  and  his  wife's 
brother,  Adam  Buckley.  He  also  owned 
considerable  land  in  Chichester  township, 
Chester  county.  He  married  Rachel, 
born  April  4,  1690,  died  December  15, 
1752,  daughter  of  John  and  Hannah  (San- 
derson) Buckley,  of  Brandywine  Hun- 
dred, New  Castle  county.  He  died  March 
15,   1758.     In  his  will,  dated  March    10, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


1753,  he  devises  his  property  to  his  sons 
and  daughters,  and  provides  for  the  eman- 
cipation of  his  negro  slaves.  He  was  bur- 
ied in  the  Friends'  burying  ground  at 
Chichester,  Pennsylvania.  John  Grubb 
was  co-executor  with  his  mother,  Fran- 
ces, of  his  father's  will. 

(III)  Samuel  Grubb,  fourth  son  of 
John  and  Rachel  (Buckley)  Grubb,  born 
March  28,  1722,  Brandywine  Hundred, 
New  Castle  county,  became  a  member  of 
Chichester  Meeting  of  Friends,  August  4, 
1746;  married  there,  September  30,  1746, 
Rebecca,  born  January  30,  1727,  died  De- 
cember 6,  1760,  daughter  of  William  and 
Mary  Hewes,  of  Chichester,  and  sister  to 
his  elder  brother,  William's  wife  ;  married 
(second),  July  15,  1752,  Lydia,  born  June 
12,  1732,  died  September  23,  1782,  daugh- 
ter of  Joshua  and  Margery  Baker,  of  Chi- 
chester; died  in  Pennsbury  township, 
Chester  county,  January  21,  1769. 

(IV)  Lydia  Grubb,  daughter  of  Sam- 
uel Grubb,  by  his  second  wife,  Lydia 
Baker,  born  July  21,  1766,  died  May  3, 
1831 ;  married,  November  22,  1788,  Ed- 
ward Gilpin,  son  of  Vincent  and  Abigail 
(Woodward)  Gilpin  (see  Gilpin  line)  and 
an  uncle  of  Edward  W.  Gilpin,  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  Delaware. 


MORRISON,  Thomas  Anderson, 

Lawyer,   Jurist. 

The  State  of  Pennsylvania  has  been 
especially  honored  in  the  character  and 
careers  of  her  active  men  and  public  offi- 
cers. In  every  section  have  been  found 
men  peculiarly  proficient  in  their  various 
vocations,  men  who  have  been  conspicu- 
ous because  of  their  superior  intelligence, 
natural  endowment  and  force  of  char- 
acter. It  is  always  profitable  to  study 
such  lives,  weigh  their  motives,  and  hold 
up  their  achievements  as  incentives  to 
greater  activity  and  higher  excellence  on 


the  part  of  others.  These  reflections  are 
suggested  by  the  career  of  the  late  Judge 
Thomas  A.  Morrison,  of  McKean  county, 
Pennsylvania,  who,  by  a  strong  inherent 
force  and  superior  ability,  stood  for  many 
years  as  one  of  the  leading  men  of  his 
section  of  the  State. 

Judge  Thomas  A.  Morrison  was  a 
member  of  a  distinguished  Pennsylvania 
family,  which  had  its  origin  in  the  North 
of  Ireland,  its  members  displaying  in  a 
marked  degree  the  sturdy  virtues  and 
abilities  which  we  associate  with  that 
region.  His  grandfather,  Hugh  Mor- 
rison, emigrated  from  the  North  of  Ire- 
land to  the  United  States,  settling  in  Cen- 
ter county,  Pennsylvania,  and  there  his 
son,  William  Morrison,  father  of  Judge 
Thomas  A.  Morrison,  was  born.  Later 
he  gave  his  attention  to  agricultural  pur- 
suits and  was  one  of  the  successful  farm- 
ers of  Pleasantville.  Toward  the  latter 
part  of  his  life,  he  moved  to  Derrick  City, 
Pennsylvania,  where  his  death  occurred 
in  1885,  when  more  than  seventy  years  of 
age.  He  married  Elizabeth  McMaster, 
born  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  in  181 5, 
died  at  Forestville,  New  York,  in  1869. 
They  were  the  parents  of  the  following 
children:  1.  Mary,  born  in  Pleasantville, 
Pennsylvania,  1838,  became  the  wife  of 
James  Farrell,  a  successful  oil  producer, 
and  died  at  Titusville,  Pennsylvania, 
191 1.  2.  Thomas  Anderson,  of  whom 
further.  3.  Isabella,  born  in  Pleasant- 
ville, Pennsylvania,  1841,  became  the  wife 
of  Milton  Hyde,  a  farmer  of  Forestville, 
New  York,  where  she  died  in  1892.  4. 
William  C,  born  in  Pleasantville,  Penn- 
sylvania, 1843,  now  a  resident  of  Illinois, 
where  he  is  engaged  in  the  oil  business. 
5.  Fidelia,  born  in  Pleasantville,  Pennsyl- 
vania, 1846,  became  the  wife  of  Albert 
McQuiston,  died  December,  1913,  whom 
she  survives  and  now  makes  her  home  in 
Rexford,  Pennsylvania.  6.  Adelaide,  born 


16 


kJicAS,  /1/Lirr^ir-x^^-T^. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


in  Pleasantville,  Pennsylvania,  1848,  died 
at  Friendship,  New  York. 

Thomas  Anderson  Morrison  was  born 
in  Pleasantville,  Venango  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, May  4,  1840.  In  the  public 
schools  and  the  Pleasantville  Academy, 
he  obtained  the  preliminary  portion  of 
his  education.  From  very  early  child- 
hood he  exhibited  a  marked  taste  and 
ability  as  a  scholar  and  left  behind  him  in 
both  of  these  institutions  a  fine  record 
for  scholarship.  At  the  age  of  eighteen 
he  was  teaching  in  the  winter  and  in  the 
summer  working  on  the  homestead  farm. 
Across  the  quiet  tenor  of  his  life,  as 
across  that  of  the  entire  country,  there 
broke  in  1861  the  calamity  of  civil  strife, 
and  in  July,  1862,  when  twenty-two 
years  old,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Com- 
pany A,  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-first 
Regiment  of  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  In- 
fantry. Pennsylvania  came  very  near 
losing  one  of  its  leading  attorneys  and 
judges  when  at  the  battle  of  Fredericks- 
burg, December  13,  1862,  this  young  man 
was  carried  off  the  field  with  one 
arm  shot  away  and  a  bullet  in  his  knee. 
For  a  long  time  it  was  supposed  that  his 
injuries  were  fatal,  but  his  splendid 
health,  which  was  a  heritage  of  his  farm- 
ing life  and  a  naturally  strong  constitu- 
tion, brought  him  through  and  he  was 
honorably  discharged  from  the  army  in 
April,  1863.  He  returned  at  once  to 
Pleasantville,  and  desiring  to  continue  his 
studies  entered  the  Edenboro  Normal 
College.  He  acquired  during  his  school- 
ing a  habit  of  study  which  never  left  him 
during  his  entire  life,  and  he  became  a 
most  eminent  scholar  and  a  recognized 
authority  on  more  than  one  subject.  His 
natural  capabilities  and  his  experiences  in 
the  war  brought  him  considerably  into 
public  notice,  and  in  1864  he  was  elected 
a  justice  of  the  peace,  holding  that  office 
during  that  and  the  following  year.     His 


next  office  was  that  of  treasurer  of  Ven- 
ango county,  to  which  he  was  elected  in 
1867,  and  which  he  held  with  a  marked 
degree  of  efficiency  for  two  years.  He 
was  appointed  United  States  deputy  col- 
lector of  internal  revenue  in  1871,  where- 
upon he  removed  to  Oil  City,  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Previously,  during  his  residence  in 
Pleasantville,  he  took  up  the  study  of  law 
in  the  office  of  the  Hon.  M.  C.  Beebe,  and 
under  the  preceptorship  of  that  able  attor- 
ney pursued  his  studies  to  such  good  pur- 
pose that  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of 
Venango  county  in  1875,  and  at  once 
began  practice  there.  Four  years  later  he 
removed  to  Smethport,  McKean  county, 
Pennsylvania,  which  from  that  time  until 
the  close  of  his  life  was  his  permanent 
home.  Here  he  built  up  a  most  success- 
ful practice,  and  very  soon  became  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  bar  in 
that  section  of  the  State.  In  the  year 
1887  he  was  appointed  additional  law 
judge  of  the  judicial  district,  then  com- 
posed of  the  counties  of  McKean  and 
Potter.  His  appointment  was  made  to 
fill  a  vacancy  on  the  bench  in  that  dis- 
trict, but  it  was  confirmed  on  November 
30,  1887,  when  he  was  elected  to  that 
responsible  office  for  a  ten-year  term.  In 
1897,  after  the  division  of  the  counties, 
he  was  reelected  for  a  second  term  of 
ten  years,  but  never  completed  it,  as  in 
the  year  1903  he  was  appointed  by  Gov- 
ernor William  H.  Stone,  of  Pennsylvania, 
to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  Superior  Court  of 
Pennsylvania.  Once  more  his  appoint- 
ment was  confirmed  at  the  following  elec- 
tion, when  he  began  the  duties  of  this 
high  office,  the  term  of  service  being  for 
ten  years,  and  he  retired  from  the  bench 
of  the  Superior  Court  in  1914.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  noteworthy  services  on  the 
bench  and  before  the  bar  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Judge  Morrison  was  also  an  active 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


member  of  the  various  legal  societies  of 
county,  State  and  country,  and  was 
always  a  conspicuous  figure  in  all  move- 
ments undertaken  to  advance  the  inter- 
est and  establish  the  ideals  of  the  legal 
profession.  Judge  Morrison  was  through- 
out his  life  a  staunch  member  of  the  Re- 
publican party,  and  although  by  no 
means  a  politician  in  the  modern  sense  of 
the  word,  was  regarded  as  one  of  its 
leaders  in  the  State.  He  never  severed 
the  associations  formed  by  him  during 
the  Civil  War,  and  was  for  many  years 
prominent  in  Grand  Army  circles  in 
Pennsylvania. 

Judge  Morrison  married,  March  31, 
1870,  Helen  S.  Gardner,  a  native  of  North 
Wethersfield,  New  York,  born  July  7, 
1850,  a  daughter  of  John  and  Hannah 
Elizabeth  (Stevens)  Gardner,  old  and 
honored  residents  of  that  place.  Mrs. 
Morrison  is  a  member  of  a  very  old  fam- 
ily which  came  from  the  North  of  Ire- 
land in  the  person  of  Nelson  Gardner  and 
settled  in  the  Rhode  Island  district  some 
time  about  the  period  of  the  Revolution. 
He  later  removed  to  North  Wethersfield, 
New  York,  where  he  died.  Mrs.  Mor- 
rison was  thirteen  years  of  age  when  she 
accompanied  her  parents  from  her  home 
at  North  Wethersfield  to  Warsaw,  New 
York,  where  she  resided  until  her  mar- 
riage with  Judge  Morrison.  Through  her 
distinguished  ancestry,  which  dated  back 
to  Colonial  times,  she  is  a  member  of 
the  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  and  she 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Patriotic  Daugh- 
ters of  the  American  Revolution  by  the 
right  of  several  of  her  forebears  who 
fought  in  that  momentous  struggle.  To 
Judge  and  Mrs.  Morrison  the  following 
children  were  born:  1.  Mary  Elizabeth, 
born  October  8,  1874,  in  Pleasantville, 
Pennsylvania ;  educated  in  the  high 
school  of  Smethport;  married,  April  18, 
1894,  Samuel  E.   Bell,  and  they  are  the 


parents  of  two  children :  Morrison  Don- 
ovan and  Mortimer  Elliott.  2.  Thomas 
H.,  born  March  11,  1877,  in  Pleasantville, 
Pennsylvania ;  a  graduate  of  Williams 
College,  and  now  a  practicing  attorney 
of  Smethport,  where  he  married,  June  18, 
1904,  Maud  Davis,  of  Bradford,  and  they 
have  one  child,  Thomas  F.  Judge 
Thomas  A.  Morrison  died  August  26, 
1916,  at  Kane  Hospital,  after  undergoing 
a  surgical  operation. 

At  Smethport,  Pennsylvania,  January 
2,  1917,  in  special  term  of  Common  Pleas 
Court,  the  time  was  devoted  to  memorial 
exercises  for  the  late  Hon.  Thomas  A. 
Morrison.  Hon.  R.  B.  Stone,  chairman 
on  behalf  of  the  committee,  presented  the 
following  memorial  which  was  unani- 
mously adopted : 

Whereas,  Hon.  Thomas  A.  Morrison,  a  dis- 
tinguished member  of  this  bar,  on  the  26th  of 
August,  1916,  in  the  borough  of  Kane,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-six  years,  following  a  critical  surgical 
operation,  surrounded  by  the  members  of  his 
family,  reached  the  close  of  his  life. 

Be  it  Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  bar 
of  McKean  county,  prompted  by  their  personal 
regard  for  Judge  Morrison,  begotten  through 
long  professional  association,  and  by  their  recog- 
nition, in  common  with  their  brethren  through- 
out the  Commonwealth,  of  his  public  services  on 
the  bench  and  at  the  bar,  place  with  sorrow  this 
tribute  upon  the  minutes  of  the  Court  at  which 
he  one  time  practiced,  and  over  which  he  so  long 
presided.  *  *  *  The  life  of  Judge  Morrison 
exemplified  the  ideals  designed  to  be  attained 
under  our  system  of  government.  To  have 
earned  his  way  to  manhood  without  the  aids  of 
wealth  and  influence,  to  have  shed  his  blood  in 
defense  of  his  country ;  to  have  won,  step  by 
step,  the  confidence  of  his  fellow  citizens  in  the 
administration  of  civil  offices ;  to  have  chosen  a 
profession  which,  for  distinction,  without  institu- 
tional aid  required  close  mental  application,  reen- 
forced  by  an  unflinching  will :  to  have  achieved 
success  in  it;  to  have  met  the  discharge  of  judi- 
cial functions  in  both  lower  and  higher  courts, 
demanding  not  only  a  ready  knowledge  of  prece- 
dents, but  a  comprehensive  grasp  of  ruling  prin- 
ciples and  a  keen  power  of  analysis,  with  such 
high  credit  as  to  have  merited  unreserved  recog- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


nition  from  his  learned  associates,  and  wide 
appreciation  from  members  of  the  legal  profes- 
sion; this  record  is  so  clear  and  complete  that 
it  may  well  stand  for  an  example,  not  only  to 
students  in  the  profession  to  which  we  belong, 
but  to  the  youth  of  the  Commonwealth  at  large, 
whatever  the  pursuit  they  may  have  chosen  to 
follow. 

Now  at  this  hour,  we  recall  with  fraternal  ten- 
derness the  personality  of  him  whom  we  have 
met  to  honor,  his  courtesy,  his  good  cheer,  his 
sense  of  honor,  his  civic  spirit,  and  as  we  record 
this  testimonial,  we  resolve  to  cherish  long  his 
memory  and  his  example. 

Hon.  R.  B.  Stone,  of  Bradford,  chair- 
man of  the  memorial  committee,  is  one 
of  the  few  surviving  practitioners  at  the 
McKean  county  bar  who  occupied  that 
relation  on  the  advent  of  Judge  Mor- 
rison as  a  member.  Following  the  read- 
ing of  the  committee  report  and  the  read- 
ing of  letters  of  regret,  Mr.  Stone  spoke 
as  follows,  disclosing  the  remarkably  fine 
elements  of  the  deceased  jurist's  char- 
acter: 

In  moving  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions,  my 
memory  goes  back  to  the  time  when  Judge  Mor- 
rison came  to  the  bar  here.  Our  calendars  were 
crowded  with  questions  of  title  and  tenure  and 
various  important  controversies  arising  out  of 
the  oil  and  lumber  industries.  Many  lawyers  of 
distinguished  ability  from  term  to  term  were 
in  attendance.  It  is  not  improbable  that  there 
were  gathered  here  at  a  single  term  more  law- 
yers of  note  than  were  ever  at  one  time  before 
any  other  court  in  this  Commonwealth.  It  was 
in  such  a  field  of  professional  distinction  that 
Judge  Morrison  won  a  recognized  position  at  the 

His  predominant  trait  as  indicated  by  the  let- 
ters which  I  have  read,  was  his  courage  of  con- 
viction. I  would  add  to  that  a  native  instinct 
manifested  in  his  intercourse  with  his  profes- 
sional brethren  and  generally  with  his  fellow- 
men,  to  stand  in  the  open.  I  have  chosen  this 
particular  place  in  the  court  room  from  which  to 
present  the  report  of  the  committee  because  it 
was  his  habit  to  stand  here  when  submitting  a 
motion  or  petition.  He  said  to  the  lawyers  about 
him :  "I  intend  that  every  member  of  the  bar 
as  well  as  the  Court,  shall  hear  distinctly  what- 
ever I  have  to  present."     Do  you  remember  how 


one  day  he  brought  to  the  bench  a  batch  of  let- 
ters written  to  him  for  or  against  an  applicant 
for  license  and  with  what  scathing  reproof  he 
directed  them  to  be  filed? 

There  was  no  back  door  to  his  judicial  cham- 
bers. He  took  no  dark  lantern  for  any  object  that 
he  sought.  If  he  desired  the  support  of  an  influ- 
ential friend  he  wrote  a  letter.  But  in  all  his 
correspondence,  published  or  unpublished,  there 
was  not  a  single  assurance,  expressed  or  implied, 
of  any  official  favor.  No  judge  was  ever  freer 
than  he  from  such  an  imputation. 

In  political  life  he  was  outspoken.  He  regarded 
certain  cardinal  policies  as  essential  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  country  and  he  believed  in  the  autoc- 
racy of  the  organization  formed  for  their  sup- 
port. To  many  of  us  the  political  machine  has 
seemed  in  its  operation  like  that  act  of  the  Brit- 
ish Parliament  of  the  seventeenth  century  enti- 
tled "An  Act  to  abolish  differences  of  opinion." 
No  man,  however,  could  say  that  he  ever  lost  the 
personal  friendship  of  Judge  Morrison  through 
an  honest  disagreement. 

I  called  upon  him  at  the  hospital  a  few  days 
before  his  death.  I  had  learned  that  his  condi- 
tion was  critical.  The  skill  of  the  distinguished 
surgeon  could  do  no  more.  But  I  had  heard  of 
marvelous  recoveries  through  some  miracle  of 
the  human  will.  And  upon  leaving  I  said  to  him : 
"You  must  be  heroic,  Judge,  as  you  were  upon 
the  battlefield."  He  smiled  in  response  and  in 
his  smile  was  a  promise  but  the  miracle  was  not 
to  be  wrought. 

In  what  little  Judge  Morrison  may  have  ever 
said  or  written  in  his  own  behalf,  by  no  word 
or  letter  did  he  ever  use  as  an  argument  his 
empty  sleeve.  It  was  a  dumb  witness  to  his 
love  of  country,  his  devotion  to  the  flag  of  the 
Union,  his  sacrifice  for  the  freedom  of  the  slave. 


HAMMOND,  James  H., 

Manufacturer. 

Pittsburgh's  supremacy  is  the  result  of 
various  causes,  chief  among  which  is  the 
unsurpassed  quality  of  her  business  men 
of  the  younger  generation.  Among  this 
class  is  James  H.  Hammond,  chairman 
and  director  of  the  Superior  Steel  Corpor- 
ation. Mr.  Hammond  is  closely  identi- 
fied not  only  with  the  manufacturing,  but 
also  with  the  financial,  philanthropic  and 
social  interests  of  Pittsburgh. 


EXCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


William  John  Hammond,  father  of 
James  H.  Hammond,  was  born  at  Grove 
Hill,  Moira,  County  Down,  Ireland,  June 
26,  1832,  son  of  John  Hammond.  Mr. 
Hammond  came  to  Pittsburgh  in  1858, 
and  married  Mary  A.  Riddle.  Mrs.  Ham- 
mond's death  occurred  on  December  25, 
1905,  and  Mr.  Hammond  died  December 
6,  1917. 

James  H.  Hammond,  son  of  William 
John  and  Mary  A.  (Riddle)  Hammond, 
was  born  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania, 
March  13,  1868.  His  education  was 
received  in  public  schools.  After  its 
completion  he  entered  business  life,  and 
after  being  variously  engaged  in  manu- 
facturing lines,  in  1892,  became  president 
and  director  of  the  Superior  Steel  Com- 
pany, one  of  the  largest  steel  manufac- 
turing concerns  of  the  Pittsburgh  Dis- 
trict. In  1917  this  company  became  the 
Superior  Steel  Corporation,  and  Mr. 
Hammond  was  elected  chairman  and 
director  of  the  new  company.  The  suc- 
cess of  the  company  has  been  due,  in 
part,  to  the  aggressiveness  of  its  presi- 
dent. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Hammond  is  identified 
with  the  Republicans,  and  while  concen- 
trating his  attention  on  the  business 
interests  directly  under  his  control,  he 
has  been  loyal  in  his  support  of  all  meas- 
ures calculated  to  benefit  the  city  and  pro- 
mote its  rapid  and  substantial  develop- 
ment. He  is  actively  interested  in  many 
forms  of  philanthropic  and  charitable 
work,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Shadyside 
Presbyterian  Church.  Of  social  nature, 
Mr.  Hammond  holds  membership  in 
many  clubs,  among  them  the  Duquesne, 
Pittsburgh  Country  and  University,  and 
the  Pittsburgh  Athletic  Association. 

On  March  31,  1891,  Mr.  Hammond 
married  Alice  Grace,  daughter  of  Joseph 
Sidney  and  Hannah  Alice  (Slater)  Sea- 
man, of  Pittsburgh.    Mr.  Seaman,  who  is 


one  of  the  best  known  of  the  Pittsburgh 
manufacturers,  is  represented  on  another 
page  of  this  work.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ham- 
mond are  the  parents  of  the  following 
children:  Alice  Riddle  and  James  Sid- 
ney. 

Men  of  the  type  of  James  H.  Hammond 
seem  like  incarnations  of  the  spirit  of  the 
twentieth  century,  and  especially  of  the 
city  of  Pittsburgh — high-minded  and 
honorable,  and  ever  in  the  van  of  pro- 
gress. It  is  these  men  who  are  laying 
the  foundations  of  the  city  of  the  future. 


PRICE,  William  Sampson, 

Lawyer,   Esteemed   Citizen. 

Conspicuous  among  the  brightest  and 
best  of  the  members  of  the  Philadelphia 
bar  was  the  late  William  S.  Price,  who 
for  almost  three-quarters  of  a  century 
was  in  active  practice  in  the  Quaker  City. 

William  Sampson  Price  was  born  in 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  August  19, 
1817,  son  of  William  H.  and  Margaret 
(Palmer)  Price.  William  H.  Price  and 
Margaret  Palmer,  his  wife,  were  from 
Birmingham,  England.  His  education 
was  received  in  the  private  schools  of  his 
city,  and  he  then  entered  the  newspaper 
business,  in  which  he  achieved  fame  as 
a  writer  of  editorials  which  left  no  doubt 
whatever  of  the  writer's  intent  and  pur- 
poses. He  was  variously  associated  with 
James  G.  Bennett  in  Philadelphia  news- 
papers, and  was  before  this  editor  of  the 
"Daily  Chronicle,"  and  "Scott's  Weekly.'' 
Deciding  to  make  law  his  profession,  he 
studied  with  Edward  &  Ingraham,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  of  Philadelphia,  in 
the  early  "forties,"  and  opened  offices  at 
No.  3  Mercantile  Library  building.  Li- 
brary street  (now  Sansom  street),  where 
he  was  associated  with  Morton  McMich- 
ael,  who  was  afterwards  mayor  of  Phil- 
adelphia.    Later  Mr.  Price  had  offices  on 


'  0 . 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Walnut  street,  near  Seventh,  which  he 
maintained  for  nearly  fifty  years.  He 
then  moved  a  few  squares  away,  where 
he  was  in  active  practice  until  the  time 
of  his  death.  During  his  many  years  as  a 
lawyer,  Mr.  Price  was  engaged  in  many 
famous  law  cases,  and  the  prominent  law- 
yers of  his  day  were  among  his  friends 
and  associates.  The  first  case  to  bring 
him  into  prominence  shortly  after  his 
admission  to  the  bar  was  the  famous 
"Singleton-Mercer"  murder  trial,  in  which 
he  was  associated  with  Robert  Brown, 
one  of  the  legal  luminaries  of  the  day, 
and  his  securing  the  acquittal  of  the 
accused  in  this  case  brought  him  much 
prominence  in  legal  circles.  His  man- 
ner of  conducting  a  case  was  character- 
istic. He  studied  and  understood  it, 
formulated  his  theory  of  it  with  great 
accuracy,  developed  it  quietly  and  thor- 
oughly and  submitted  it  in  simple,  lucid 
terms.  Power  of  application  and  concen- 
tration, lucidity  of  thought  and  expres- 
sion, were  his  best  intellectual  assets,  and 
brought  him  into  prominence  among  the 
foremost  men  in  his  profession,  not  only 
in  Philadelphia,  but  throughout  the  State, 
as  well  as  New  York.  In  later  years  Mr. 
Price  was  known  as  a  consulting  attor- 
ney, and  also  had  charge  of  a  la"rge  num- 
ber of  estates. 

In  politics,  William  S.  Price  was  first 
a  Whig  and  later  a  Democrat.  In  1855  he 
declined  nomination  for  Congress  on  the 
Republican  ticket,  and  in  1870  was  elected 
associate  judge  of  the  District  Court  on 
the  Democratic  ticket,  but  by  political 
trickery  was  counted  out.  To  every 
measure  which  he  felt  conserved  the 
interest  of  good  government  he  gave 
loyal  support,  and  his  charities  were 
numerous  but  unostentatious.  He  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  old  Common- 
wealth Club,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Penn  Club,  Young  Men's  Democratic 
Association,   and   many   other   organiza- 


tions. For  many  years  he  was  chancel- 
lor of  the  Episcopal  diocese  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

With  a  luminous  and  vigorous  intel- 
lect, William  S.  Price  combined  a  most 
winning  personality.  His  friendships 
were  not  confined  to  men  of  his  profes- 
sion alone,  and  among  others  he  was  a 
close  friend  of  the  famous  Edgar  Allen 
Poe,  and  other  leading  minds  of  the  day. 
He  also  cherished  the  close  friendship  of 
Charles  Dickens,  whom  he  met  upon  the 
first  visit  to  America  of  that  novelist.  It 
was  said  of  him  that  "he  was  as  true  as 
steel  and  as  pure  as  gold,"  and  one  glance 
at  his  countenance  would  confirm  the 
statement.  It  was  a  face  of  mingled 
strength  and  refinement,  a  face  radiant 
with  kindness  and  good  will. 

On  May  19,  1846,  Mr.  Price  married 
Sarah  A.  Jones,  and  they  were  the  par- 
ents of  the  following  children :  William 
Henry,  attorney,  whose  death  occurred 
in  1894;  and  Mary  E.,  who  became  the 
wife  of  Mortimer  H.  Brown.  Mrs.  Brown 
is  active  in  philanthropic  work  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  was  for  a  number  of  years 
president  of  the  Charlotte  Cushman  Club. 
The  death  of  Mrs.  William  S.  Price 
occurred  October  31,  1900. 

The  years  of  William  Sampson  Price 
were  prolonged  far  beyond  the  traditional 
limit  of  human  life.  When  past  the 
ninety-fifth  anniversary  of  his  birth  he 
closed  his  career  of  usefulness  and  honor, 
breathing  his  last,  December  17,  1912,  at 
his  home  in  Philadelphia.  The  record  of 
his  work  forms  part  of  the  history  of  the 
bar  of  the  Keystone  State,  and  in  it  his 
name  stands  as  that  of  a  patriotic  citizen 
and  a  learned  counsellor. 


SIEBERT,  William, 

Business  Man,  Public  Official. 

The    commercial    prosperity    of    Pitts- 
burgh, like  that  of  every  other  great  city, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


has  always  depended  upon  the  ability  and 
integrity  of  her  business  men,  and  both 
the  past  and  the  present  abundantly 
prove  that  the  metropolis  of  Pennsyl- 
vania has  been  richly  blessed  in  this  class 
of  her  citizens.  In  their  foremost  ranks 
for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century  stood  the 
late  William  Siebert,  of  the  widely  known 
firm  of  W.  &  P.  Siebert,  one  of  the  large 
grocery  houses  of  Pittsburgh. 

John  Siebert,  son  of  William  Siebert, 
and  founder  of  the  American  branch  of 
the  family,  was  born  in  Sieberthausen  of 
Rodenburgh,  near  Hesse  Cassel  city,  Ger- 
many, and  on  June  4,  1836,  embarked  in 
a  sailing  vessel  for  the  United  States, 
landing  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  Septem- 
ber 3,  same  year,  whence  he  made  his 
way  with  his  sons,  Christian  and  Wil- 
liam, to  Pittsburgh.  They  made  their 
way  in  Conestoga  wagons  and  arrived  in 
Pittsburgh,  October  3,  1836.  John  Sie- 
bert was  twice  married.  His  first  wife 
bore  him  one  child,  Barthel,  who  was 
born  in  181 1,  and  became  a  resident  of 
Allegheny  county.  The  second  wife  of 
John  Siebert  was  Annie  Kunigunde,  born 
in  Bebra,  Germany,  daughter  of  George 
Krapp.  Children  of  John  and  Annie 
Kunigunde  (Krapp)  Siebert:  William; 
George  ;  Christian  ;  William,  see  below  ; 
Susan,  wife  of  Adam  Brown ;  Paul ; 
Elizabeth ;  Barbara,  wife  of  John  Devitt ; 
Barnard ;  Sarah,  wife  of  W illiam  Pfusch  ; 
and  John. 

William  Siebert,  son  of  John  and  Annie 
Kunigunde  (Krapp)  Siebert,  was  born 
June  21,  1822,  in  Germany,  and  was  but 
fourteen  years  old  when  he  came  with  his 
parents  from  his  native  land.  He  was 
variously  employed  in  Pittsburgh,  and 
for  a  time  worked  on  the  canal  express 
line  running  from  Pittsburgh  to  Johns- 
town. In  the  autumn  of  1846  he  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  retail  grocery  busi- 
ness, being  the  first  to  open  what  was 


called  a  family  grocery  store  in  Pittsburgh, 
and  one  wherein  no  liquors  were  allowed  to 
be  sold.  His  store  was  situated  in  the  old 
Fifth  (later  the  Ninth  and  now  the  Sixth) 
Ward,  and  after  a  time  he  took  as  a  part- 
ner his  brother,  Paul  Siebert,  when  the 
firm  became  known  as  W.  &  P.  Siebert. 
The  connection  was  maintained  until 
1863,  when  Paul  Siebert  retired  and  set- 
tled in  Ross  township,  and  William  con- 
tinued the  business  until  1872,  when  he 
retired  also,  spending  the  remainder  of 
his  life  mainly  in  looking  after  his  own 
interests,  although  for  some  years  he  was 
in  the  livery  business,  having  as  his  part- 
ner a  Mr.  Joseph  Mitchell.  The  record 
of  William  Siebert  as  a  business  man  is 
free  from  the  slightest  blemish.  His 
integrity  was  never  questioned,  and  he 
was  a  just  and  kind  employer.  In  all  con- 
cerns relative  to  the  city's  welfare,  Mr. 
Siebert  took  a  deep  interest.  He  served 
as  councilman  for  two  or  three  terms.  In 
politics  he  was  a  Republican.  Mr.  Sie- 
bert at  the  time  of  his  death  was  the  old- 
est member  of  the  Canal  Boatman's  Asso- 
ciation. He  was  a  member  of  the  Grant 
Street  Lutheran  Church,  and  no  good 
work  done  in  the  name  of  charity  or  relig- 
ion sought  his  aid  in  vain.  Few  men 
enjoyed  to  a  greater  degree  the  warm 
effection  and  high  regard  of  their  fellow- 
citizens. 

William  Siebert  married,  October  17, 
1844,  m  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  Mary, 
daughter  of  Joseph  and  Anna  (Gesch- 
windt)  Zimmerman,  and  their  children 
were :  Albert,  a  Lutheran  minister,  of 
Germantown,  Ohio ;  Francis  Virginia, 
widow  of  W.  W.  Wattles,  of  Pittsburgh ; 
Catharine,  widow  of  Joseph  G.  Lambie, 
of  Glen  Osborne,  a  suburb  of  Pittsburgh ; 
Elizabeth  R.,  of  Pittsburgh ;  and  William 
P.,  whose  biography  and  portrait  are 
elsewhere  in  this  work.  The  death  of 
Mrs.  William  Siebert  occurred  March  10, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


1912.  William  Siebert  was  a  man  to 
whom  the  ties  of  family  and  friendship 
were  sacred,  and  never  was  he  so  content 
as  when  surrounded  by  the  members  of 
his  household. 

The  death  of  William  Siebert,  which 
occurred  August  18,  190S,  deprived  Pitts- 
burgh of  one  of  her  most  influential  citi- 
zens, one  who  had  ever  studied  her  wel- 
fare and  labored  for  her  prosperity.  He 
left  a  record  of  a  life  singularly  complete 
and  a  name  that  had  ever  stood  as  a 
synonym  for  all  that  is  enterprising  in 
business  and  progressive  in  citizenship. 
The  old-time  business  men  of  Pittsburgh 
are  still  warmly  cherished  in  the  memor- 
ies of  many,  and  none  is  more  vividly 
recalled  than  William  Siebert.  His  rec- 
ord forms  part  of  the  annals  of  his  city. 


BOWMAN,  Franklin  Meyer, 

Manufacturer. 

Franklin  Meyer  Bowman,  vice-presi- 
dent and  director  of  the  Blaw-Knox  Com- 
pany, steel  manufacturers,  is  numbered 
among  that  group  of  aggressive  young 
business  men  who  are  to-day  maintaining 
the  prestige  of  Pittsburgh  as  an  industrial 
centre. 

Franklin  Meyer  Bowman  was  born  in 
Freeport,  Waterloo  county,  Canada,  Sep- 
tember 2,  1870,  son  of  Isaac  L.  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Meyer)  Bowman.  Isaac  L.  Bow- 
man, who  was  a  student  of  Oberlin  Col- 
lege from  1851  to  1856,  was  for  some 
years  engaged  in  academic  work  in  Can- 
ada, and  later  a  surveyor  and  engineer. 
Franklin  M.  Bowman  was  educated  in 
the  schools  of  his  section  and  at  Berlin 
High  School  (now  Kitchener  Collegiate 
Institute)  Waterloo  county  Canada.  He 
later  attended  the  School  of  Practical 
Sciences,  Toronto  University,  graduating 
in  1890,  with  degree  of  Civil  Engineer, 
and  being  first  scholarship  man.  He  then 
spent  one  year  in  Government  land  sur- 


veying, and  one  year  with  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Steel  Company.  In  1891  he  became 
connected  with  the  Riter-Conley  Manu- 
facturing Company,  of  Pittsburgh,  as 
structural  engineer,  later  becoming  direc- 
tor and  secretary,  and  remained  with 
them  until  1912.  He  had  charge  of  all 
the  structural  work  of  this  immense  con- 
cern, known  throughout  the  world,  and 
was  located  at  their  Allegheny  plant.  In 
1912  Mr.  Bowman  came  to  the  Blaw 
Steel  Construction  Company  of  Pitts- 
burgh as  vice-president  and  director, 
which  offices  he  held  until  this  concern 
was  merged  with  the  Knox  Pressed  & 
Welded  Steel  Company,  the  new  com- 
pany being  known  as  the  Blaw-Knox 
Company.  Of  this  company  Mr.  Bow- 
man is  vice-president  and  director.  He 
was  for  many  years  before  its  merger 
officially  connected  with  the  Knox 
Pressed  &  Welded  Steel  Company. 

In  politics  Mr.  Bowman  is  a  Repub- 
lican, and  while  living  in  Bellevue,  Penn- 
sylvania (a  suburb  of  Pittsburgh)  was 
for  four  years  a  member  of  its  Council, 
and  also  was  president  of  Council  for  a 
term,  and  was  for  years  on  its  Board  of 
Health.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  church.  Of  social  nature, 
Mr.  Bowman  is  a  member  of  a  number  of 
clubs,  among  them  being  the  Duquesne, 
University,  Westmoreland  Country  and 
Old  Colony  of  Pittsburgh.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Engineers'  Society  of 
Western  Pennsylvania,  the  American  So- 
ciety of  Mechanical  Engineers,  American 
Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  and  the  Ameri- 
can Chapter,  Toronto  University  Alumni 
Association.  Fraternally  he  is  affiliated 
with  the  Masonic  order. 

On  August  14,  1895,  Mr.  Bowman  mar- 
ried Ida  C,  daughter  of  R.  A.  Cameron, 
and  granddaughter  of  Lewis  O.  Cameron, 
of  Bellevue,  Pennsylvania.  Mrs.  Bow- 
man is  descended  from  the  old  Cameron 
family  of  Pennsylvania,  her  grandfather 


23 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


being  a  cousin  of  Don  C.  Cameron,  who 
was  for  years  United  States  Senator  from 
Pennsylvania,  and  a  son  of  Simon  Cam- 
eron, member  of  the  Cabinet  of  President 
Lincoln.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bowman  have  a 
handsome  home  in  the  East  End,  Pitts- 
burgh, and  are  fond  of  entertaining. 

The  foregoing  is  a  very  brief  and  ex- 
tremely imperfect  outline  of  the  career 
thus  far  of  Franklin  Meyer  Bowman.  A 
more  detailed  account  would,  however, 
be  almost  if  not  quite  superfluous,  for  the 
reason  that  his  record  of  a  quarter  of  a 
century  and  upward  is  now  incorporated 
in  the  business  annals  of  his  city.  May 
it  receive,  in  the  years  to  come,  the  addi- 
tion of  many  more  chapters. 


SMITH,  Stanley, 

Ophthalmologist. 

The  universal  trend  has  been  for  many 
years  in  the  direction  of  specialization, 
and  in  the  medical  profession  the  tend- 
ency has  been  particularly  marked.  The 
specialists  of  Pittsburgh  are  noted  for 
the  ability  and  thoroughness  manifested 
in  their  work,  and  none  of  them,  in  his 
own  department,  stands  higher  than  Dr. 
Stanley  Smith,  Assistant  Professor  on 
the  Eye  and  Ear  Staff  of  the  University 
of  Pittsburgh.  Though  Dr.  Smith  has 
practised  as  a  specialist  for  only  a  dozen 
years,  he  is  already  regarded  as  one  of 
the  representative  ophthalmologists  of 
Western  Pennsylvania. 

Dr.  Stanley  Smith  was  born  January  7, 
1874,  in  Warren  county,  Pennsylvania, 
and  is  a  son  of  Enos  F.  and  Rosamond 
(Gelso)  Smith.  He  was  educated  in  local 
public  schools  and  at  Kiskiminetas  Acad- 
emy, and  early  chose  for  his  life-work  the 
profession  of  medicine.  He  was  fitted  for 
this  at  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Phila- 
delphia, graduating  from  that  institution 
in  1896,  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine.     After  serving  for  a  year  and 


a  half  as  interne  in  the  Allegheny  Gen- 
eral Hospital,  Dr.  Smith  entered  upon  the 
general  practice  of  his  profession  in  Pitts- 
burgh and  spent  seven  years  in  the 
acquisition  of  much  valuable  experience 
and  in  building  up  an  enviable  reputation 
for  knowledge,  skill  and  devotion  to  duty. 
At  the  end  of  this  period,  however,  feel- 
ing a  desire  for  still  more  thorough  equip- 
ment than  was  already  his,  he  took  a 
course  of  post-graduate  work  in  the  Wills 
Eye'  Hospital  and  the  Polyclinic  and  Ger- 
man Hospitals  of  Philadelphia.  In  1903 
he  returned  to  Pittsburgh,  where  he  has 
ever  since  practised  as  an  ophthalmolog- 
ist, having  an  extensive  clientele  and 
occupying  a  leading  position.  He  has 
been  Assistant  Professor  on  the  Eye  and 
Ear  Staff  of  the  University  of  Pittsburgh, 
and  has  occupied  the  same  position  on 
the  staff  of  the  Carnegie  Technical  In- 
stitute. 

Chief  among  the  well  merited  honors 
which  the  years  have  brought  to  Dr. 
Smith  is  that  of  fellowship  in  the  Ameri- 
can College  of  Surgeons.  He  also  belongs 
to  the  Pittsburgh  Academy  of  Medicine, 
the  Pittsburgh  Ophthalmological  Society, 
the  American  Ophthalmological  and  La- 
ryngological  Society,  the  American  Med- 
ical Association,  the  Pennsylvania  State 
Medical  Association  and  the  Allegheny 
County  Medical  Society.  The  pen  of  Dr. 
Smith  is  active  in  the  interests  of  his  pro- 
fession, and  the  articles  which  he  contri- 
butes from  time  to  time  to  medical  jour- 
nals are  widely  read  and  receive  much 
favorable  comment.  The  political  prin- 
ciples of  Dr.  Smith  are  those  advocated 
by  the  Democratic  party.  He  is  a  thirty- 
second  degree  Mason  and  belongs  to  the 
University,  Civic,  Pittsburgh  Press  and 
Pittsburgh  Field  clubs.  He  attends  the 
Shady  Side  Presbyterian  Church. 

Deeply  read  in  his  profession  and 
rarely  skillful  in  the  application  of  his 
knowledge,     Dr.     Smith     combines     the 


a////  '/  •  y'fj/u  /■ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


essential  qualities  of  the  student  and  the 
practitioner.  His  career,  in  its  entirety, 
has  thus  far  been  associated  with  Pitts- 
burgh, and  one  of  his  salient  character- 
istics is  a  loyal  love  for  the  city  of  his 
adoption.  Identified  with  a  number  of 
her  leading  institutions,  he  has  rendered 
in  all  of  them  able  and  disinterested  serv- 
ice, one  not  already  mentioned  being  the 
Pittsburgh  Eye  and  Ear  Hospital.  The 
number  of  his  friends  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  compute,  for  his  nature  is  thor- 
oughly genial  and  both  in  and  out  of  his 
profession  he  draws  men  to  him.  He  is 
a  man  of  fine  appearance,  tall,  well  built 
and  athletic,  with  a  face  expressive  of 
strength  and  refinement,  and  the  clear, 
searching  eye  which  indicates  the  close 
observer  and  the  deep  thinker.  Every- 
thing about  him  marks  him  for  what  he 
is — the  physician  and  the  gentleman. 

Dr.  Smith  married,  April  23,  1902,  So- 
phia, daughter  of  Charles  A.  and  Eliza- 
beth (Rogers)  Lovens,  of  Franklin,  Penn- 
sylvania. Mrs.  Smith,  a  woman  of  win- 
ning personality,  is  an  ardent  suffragist, 
and  both  she  and  her  husband  enjoy  a 
high  degree  of  social  popularity,  their 
charming  home  in  the  East  End  being  a 
center  of  attraction  for  their  many  friends. 

"Forward"  has  ever  been  the  motto  of 
Pittsburgh — the  motto  not  only  of  her 
manufacturers  and  capitalists,  but  also  of 
her  professional  men,  her  scientists  and 
her  brain-workers.  Most  emphatically 
has  it  been  the  motto  of  her  medical  fra- 
ternity, and  while  that  body  numbers 
among  its  members  such  men  as  Dr. 
Stanley  Smith  most  assuredly  it  will  con- 
tinue to  be  so. 


FISHER,  John  C, 

Pioneer  in  Oil  Industry. 

The  oil  industry  of  Pennsylvania  con- 
stitutes   one    of    the    bulwarks    of    her 


strength  and  is  among  the  chief  reser- 
voirs of  her  power.  The  men  who  first 
developed  its  resources  helped  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  the  present  phenomenal 
prosperity  of  the  Keystone  State,  and  as 
we  revert  in  thought  to  the  days  of  those 
pioneers  we  find  dominant  among  them 
the  late  John  C.  Fisher,  for  many  years  a 
commanding  figure  in  the  oil  fields  of 
Pennsylvania.  In  the  latter  part  of  his 
life  Mr.  Fisher  became  identified  with  the 
Scientific  Materials  Company,  serving  as 
president  of  this  concern  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that 
in  assuming  this  office  Mr.  Fisher  identi- 
fied himself  with  the  business  of  his 
ancestors,  the  manufacture  of  scientific 
instruments,  conducting  it  as  a  resident 
of  Pittsburgh,  his  native  city,  which  was 
always  his  home  and  the  center  of  his 
interests.  , 

Jacob  Fischer  (as  the  name  was  orig- 
inally spelled),  grandfather  of  John  C. 
Fisher,  was  a  famous  astronomer  and 
manufacturer  of  astronomical  instru- 
ments in  Wurtemberg,  Germany,  genera- 
tions of  his  ancestors  having  been  en- 
gaged in  the  same  business. 

Gottlieb  Fischer,  son  of  Jacob  Fischer, 
was  also  of  Wurtemberg,  Germany,  and 
adhered  to  the  traditions  of  his  family  by 
carrying  on  the  business  of  manufactur- 
ing astronomical  instruments.  Realizing 
the  larger  opportunities  presented  by  the 
New  World  he  came  to  the  United  States, 
making  his  home  in  Pittsburgh,  where 
he  married  Christine  Schall,  a  native  of 
Stuttgart,  Germany.  Mr.  Fischer  was 
accompanied  to  the  United  States  by  his 
brother  Jacob,  who  married  a  sister  of 
Christine  Schall.  These  two  brothers 
were  the  only  members  of  the  family  to 
leave  their  native  land. 

John  C.  Fisher,  son  of  Gottlieb  and 
Christine  (Schall)  Fischer,  was  born  No- 
vember   17,     1841,    in    Allegheny     (now 


25 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


North  Side,  Pittsburgh),  and  received  his 
early  education  in  local  schools.  When 
he  was  on  the  verge  of  manhood  and  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  summoned  all 
loyal,  able-bodied  citizens  to  the  defense 
of  the  Union,  John  C.  Fisher  was  among 
the  first  to  respond.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-one  he  enlisted  in  Company  C, 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty-third  Regiment 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  and  served  in 
the  battles  of  Antietam,  Fredericksburg 
and  others,  retiring  with  an  honorable 
record. 

On  his  return  to  civil  life,  Mr.  Fisher 
associated  himself  with  the  oil  industry, 
then  in  the  stage  of  incipiency,  proving 
by  his  success  that  he  possessed  excep- 
tional ability.  He  was  among  the  first 
to  bring  oil  in  barges  from  Oil  City  and 
the  vicinity  and  was  active  in  the  boating 
of  oil  on  the  Allegheny  river,  transport- 
ing it  in  bulk  and  thus  revolutionizing 
the  method  of  its  conveyance.  He  was 
commodore  of  a  fleet  operating  during  the 
early  period  of  the  industry,  and  in  those 
days  took  down  the  river,  in  the  space  of 
one  year,  more  tonnage  than  the  entire 
yearly  tonnage  of  the  Allegheny  river 
to-day.  For  years  Mr.  Fisher  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Fisher  Oil  Company,  and  served 
on  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Birming- 
ham Traction  Company.  He  was  presi- 
dent of  the  old  Chartiers  Valley  Water 
Company,  which  has  always  furnished 
water  to  the  South  Side,  the  corporation 
having  been  originally  formed  to  supply 
that  part  of  the  city  as  well  as  Knoxville, 
South  Hills  and  other  neighborhoods. 
This  company  supplied  the  first  filtered 
water  in  the  Pittsburgh  district.  Mr. 
Fisher  withdrew  from  active  connection 
with  the  concern  when  they  sold  out  to 
the  South  Pittsburgh  Water  Company 
which  to-day  furnishes  water  to  the 
South  Side,  Knoxville,  South  Hills  and 
other  places,  operating  under  the  charter 
of  the  old  Chartiers  Valley  Water  Com- 


pany. After  boating  oil  down  the  Alle- 
gheny river,  Air.  Fisher  built  a  refinery, 
but  operated  it  for  a  short  time  only, 
disposing  of  it  to  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany. He  was  at  one  time  in  business 
with  the  late  Joseph  Craig,  but  the  con- 
nection was  dissolved  in  consequence  of 
the  greater  conservation  of  Mr.  Fisher's 
ideas.  The  two  were  always  the  very 
best  of  friends,  despite  the  fact  that  their 
business  policies  were  different. 

In  1902,  Chester  G.  Fisher,  Mr.  Fish-  1 
er's  son,  founded  the  Scientific  Materials 
Company,  the  older  man  being  elected  to 
the  office  of  president.  The  concern 
became  one  of  the  leading  organizations 
in  its  particular  line  and,  while  Mr.  Fisher 
was  not  active  in  the  business,  he  always 
gave  to  its  affairs  vigilant  oversight  and 
constant  attention.  There  could  have 
been  no  more  striking  proof  of  the  fact 
than  that  he  retained  unimpaired  the 
powerful  intellect  and  indomitable  energy 
which  had  given  him  his  commanding 
station  in  the  business  world. 

In  public  affairs,  both  local  and  na- 
tional, Mr.  Fisher  ever  manifested  the 
keenest  interest;  and  no  movement  hav- 
ing for  its  object  the  improvement  of 
conditions  in  his  native  city  appealed  to 
him  in  vain.  He  was  one  of  the  early 
members  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  ; 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  the  last 
original  member  of  the  Pittsburgh  Stock 
Exchange,  having  assisted  in  the  forma- 
tion of  that  body  when  it  took  the  place 
of  the  oil  exchange.  He  had  been  a  life  t 
member  of  the  latter  organization,  and 
retained  his  seat  in  the  Stock  Exchange 
until  1910,  when  he  sold  it  for  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  the  second  highest  price 
ever  paid  for  a  seat  in  the  Pittsburgh 
Stock  Exchange. 

A  man  of  broad  views  and  sympathetic 
nature,  Mr.  Fisher's  influence  and  aid 
were  not  limited  by  race  or  creed.  He 
was  one  of  the  staunchest  supporters  of 


26 


£M&2VU^ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


colored  schools  in  the  South.  In  appear- 
ance he  was  decidedly  handsome,  his  fea- 
tures being  clear-cut  and  virile.  He  was 
a  man  of  jovial  disposition,  nimble  wit 
and  a  rare  sense  of  humor.  The  frequent 
twinkle  of  his  eye  was  ample  evidence 
of  the  natural  mirth  which  was  ever  bub- 
bling forth  in  his  expressions.  Always 
ready  with  a  joke,  he  was  an  excellent, 
even  an  enthusiastic,  listener.  Accom- 
plishing much  with  little  friction  he 
sometimes  overcame  opposition  by  his 
sincerity  and  geniality.  His  kindness  and 
unassuming  friendliness  attracted  all  who 
approached  him  and  surrounded  him  with 
warmly-attached  associates  and  neigh- 
bors. 

Mr.  Fisher  married.  January  28,  1869, 
Mary,  daughter  of  Charles  and  Salome 
(Sterner)  Weber,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  they 
became  the  parents  of  the  following  chil- 
dren :  John  F.,  of  Tulsa,  Oklahoma ; 
Chester  G.,  vice-president  of  the  Scienti- 
fic Materials  Company ;  Mary  F.,  wife  of 
George  A.  Harwood;  Edwin  H.,  treas- 
urer of  the  Scientific  Materials  Company  ; 
and  Amelia  C.  Mrs.  Fisher,  a  woman  of 
attractive  personality,  is  a  true  home- 
maker,  and  her  husband,  whose  affections 
and  interests  all  centered  in  his  house- 
hold, never  found  any  allurements  to 
rival  those  of  his  own  fireside. 

On  September  15,  1916,  Mr.  Fisher 
passed  away,  in  the  seventy-fifth  year  of 
his  age.  Men  of  every  class  deeply 
mourned  for  him.  He  left  to  his  children 
the  priceless  heritage  of  an  upright  life 
and  an  unsullied  name. 

In  his  youth  a  gallant  defender  of  the 
Union;  in  his  early  life  one  of  the  pion- 
eers of  a  great  industry;  in  his  maturer 
years  the  head  and  guiding  hand  in  a  con- 
cern representing  the  vocation  followed 
by  his  ancestors  for  generations.  Such 
is  the  record  of  John  C.  Fisher.  Could 
there  be  one  more  worthy? 


NIEMANN,  Herman  H., 

Financier,  Merchant. 

To  her  business  men  of  the  older  gen- 
eration, the  Pittsburgh  of  to-day  owes  an 
incalculable  debt.  They  it  was  who  laid 
deep  and  strong  the  foundations  on  which 
has  arisen  the  city  which  is  now  the  won- 
der of  the  industrial  world.  None  among 
these  noble  Pittsburghers  of  the  past 
labored  more  strenuously  for  the  pros- 
perity of  this  city  than  did  the  late  Her- 
man H.  Niemann,  head  of  the  well-known 
firm  of  H.  H.  Niemann  &  Company.  As 
financier,  merchant  and  man  of  affairs, 
Mr.  Niemann  was  for  many  years  closely 
and  prominently  identified  with  the  best 
interests  of  the  Iron  City. 

Herman  H.  Niemann  was  born  in 
Bramsche,  Province  of  Hanover,  Ger- 
many, February  24,  1832,  son  of  Rudolph 
and  Jane  (Hempes)  Niemann.  When  he 
was  but  eight  years  of  age  his  father  died, 
leaving  a  family  of  six.  The  wife  and 
mother  remained  in  Germany  until  her 
children  received  their  education,  and 
and  then  emigrated  to  America,  locating 
in  Pittsburgh.  Here  Herman  H.  Nie- 
mann was  apprenticed  to  a  tailor,  and  so 
well  did  he  apply  himself  that  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one  he  started  a  merchant  tail- 
oring establishment  of  his  own,  which 
was  continued  until  within  a  few  years 
before  his  death.  He  was  considered  one 
of  the  pioneers  in  his  line  of  business  in 
Pittsburgh,  and  showed  himself  to  be 
possessed  of  that  resolute,  persevering 
industry,  sound  and  accurate  judgment 
which  seldom  fail  to  command  success  in 
any  sphere  of  action. 

Mr.  Niemann  was  actively  interested  in 
a  number  of  Pittsburgh  concerns,  among 
them  being  the  Fifth  Avenue  Bank,  of 
which  he  was  president  for  nineteen 
years;  was  president  of  the  German- 
American   Insurance   Company   of   Pitts- 


27 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


burgh ;  for  eight  years  was  president  of 
the  Canonsburg  Iron  &  Steel  Company, 
and  later  president  of  the  Parkersburg 
Iron  &  Steel  Company  of  West  Virginia ; 
and  a  charter  member  of  the  Germania 
Savings  Bank  and  member  of  its  board  of 
directors  for  many  years.  He  was  also  a 
charter  member  of  the  German  National 
Bank,  and  served  on  its  board  of  direc- 
tors for  more  than  thirty  years,  then 
resigned  from  its  directorate. 

Although  Mr.  Niemann  was,  all  his  life, 
too  busy  a  man  to  take  any  active  part  in 
politics,  he  was  ever  keenly  alive  to  the 
affairs  of  the  city,  and  was  recognized  as 
a  vigilant  and  attentive  observer  of  men 
and  measures.  He  affiliated  with  the  Re- 
publicans. At  all  times  he  stood  as  an 
able  exponent  of  the  spirit  of  the  age  in 
his  efforts  to  promote  progress  and  im- 
provement, making  wise  use  of  his  oppor- 
tunities and  his  wealth,  and  conforming 
his  life  to  a  high  standard.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  German  Lutheran  church. 
Of  fine  personal  appearance,  he  possessed 
a  genial,  social  nature,  untouched  by  mal- 
ice or  uncharitableness,  was  most  loyal 
to  his  friends,  and  had  a  kind  word  and  a 
smile  for  everyone. 

Mr.  Niemann  married,  July  n,  1861, 
Martha,  daughter  of  George  and  Eliza- 
beth (Horning)  Flowers,  of  Baldwin 
township,  Allegheny  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania. By  this  marriage  Mr.  Niemann 
gained  the  companionship  of  a  congenial 
woman  and  worthy  helpmate  in  his  aspira- 
tions and  endeavors.  The  death  of  Mrs. 
Niemann  occurred  December  20,  1914. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Niemann  were  the  parents 
of  two  sons :  Adolphus  Edward  and 
Charles  Franklin.  Mr.  Niemann  was  a 
man  of  most  domestic  tastes,  and  was 
never  happier  than  when  surrounded  by 
the  members  of  his  family.  , 

Herman  H.  Niemann  died  May  15, 
1904,  leaving  the  memory  of  a  life  honor- 


able in  purpose,  fearless  in  conduct  and 
beneficent  toward  all.  Faithful  to  every 
duty,  his  name  a  synonym  for  success, 
recognizing  and  fulfilling  to  the  letter 
his  obligations  to  his  fellowmen,  Pitts- 
burgh lost  in  him  one  of  her  most  valued 
citizens.  His  death  called  forth  many 
expressions  of  appreciation.  A  Pitts- 
burgh paper  said,  in  part : 

In  the  death  of  Herman  H.  Niemann  the  com- 
munity lost  one  of  its  most  valued  and  public- 
spirited  citizens,  and  the  church  a  member  whose 
place  will  be  hard  to  fill.  / 

From  a  "In  Memoriam,"  adopted  by 
the  Germania  Savings  Bank,  we  quote  the 
following  extract : 

A  quiet,  unassuming  man  of  devout  Christian 
character,  he  was  true  to  his  highest  standard  of 
uprightness  and  integrity ;  benevolent  and  chari- 
table in  disposition ;  open-handed  in  beneficence, 
ever  ready  to  assist  those  in  need,  he  was  justly 
entitled  to  the  respect  and  honor  of  all  whose 
privilege  it  was  to  know  him]// 

There  are  some  men  the  simple  story  of 
whose  lives  is  at  once  a  record  and  a 
eulogy.  High  on  the  list  of  this  noble 
class  in  Pittsburgh  stands  the  name  of 
Herman  H.  Niemann. 

(The  Flowers  Line). 

George  Flowers,  great-grandfather  of 
Mrs.  Herman  H.  Niemann,  was  a  mer- 
chant of  Philadelphia,  residing  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Race  and  Eighth  streets.  The 
name  of  his  wife  was  Hannah. 

Jacob  Flowers,  son  of  George  and  Han- 
nah Flowers,  was  born  in  Philadelphia, 
and  when  a  young  man  moved  to  Harris- 
burgh,  where  he  married  Elizabeth  Man- 
tell.  Later  Mr.  Flowers  moved  to  Alle- 
gheny county.  He  engaged  in  agricul- 
tural pursuits  and  was  also  the  proprie- 
tor of  a  hotel. 

George  (2)  Flowers,  son  of  Jacob  and 
Elizabeth    (Mantell)    Flowers,  was  born 


23 


Uj  Ca  (y//^^^^ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


in  Harrisburg,  and  was  a  boy  when  the 
family  moved  to  Allegheny  county.  Later 
he  became  a  farmer  of  that  county. 
In  politics  he  was  a  Republican,  and 
in  religious  belief  a  Lutheran.  Mr. 
Flowers  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Christopher  and  Elizabeth  Horning,  of 
Allegheny  county,  Pennsylvania,  and 
their  children  were  :  Jacob  ;  John  Horn- 
ing; Lavinia,  wife  of  Frederick  Glenhau- 
sen,  of  Allegheny  county ;  Priscilla,  mar- 
ried John  Aber,  of  Allegheny  county ; 
Martha,  see  below;  Sophia,  wife  of 
Charles  Meyran,  of  Pittsburgh ;  and 
Mary,  married  Jacob  Mott,  of  Allegheny 
county. 

Martha  Flowers,  daughter  of  George 
(2)  and  Elizabeth  (Horning)  Flowers, 
was  born  February  14,  1832;  married, 
July  11,  1861,  Herman  H.  Niemann,  as 
stated  above.  Her  death  occurred  De- 
cember 20,  1914. 


NIEMANN,  Adolphus  Edward, 

Financier. 

Pittsburgh's  supremacy  is  the  result  of 
various  causes,  chief  among  which  is  the 
unsurpassed  quality  of  her  business  men 
of  the  younger  generation.  Among  this 
class  is  A.  Edward  Niemann,  vice-presi- 
dent, treasurer  and  director  of  the  Ger- 
mania  Savings  Bank  of  Pittsburgh.  Mr. 
Niemann  is  closely  identified  not  only 
with  the  financial  institutions  of  his  city, 
but  is  also  officially  connected  with  a 
number  of  her  large  manufacturing  enter- 
prises. 

Adolphus  Edward  Niemann,  son  of  the 
late  Herman  H.  and  Martha  (Flowers) 
Niemann,  was  born  in  Pittsburgh,  Penn- 
sylvania, February  23,  1866.  His  school- 
ing was  acquired  in  the  public  and  pri- 
vate schools  of  his  city,  and  he  then 
entered  business,  becoming  connected,  in 
1886,    with    the    Manufacturers'    Natural 


Gas  Company,  now  the  Manufacturers' 
Light  &  Heat  Company.  He  entered  the 
banking  business  in  July,  1891,  first  as 
secretary  and  a  few  years  later  as  secre- 
tary, treasurer  and  director  of  the  Ger- 
mania  Savings  Bank  of  Pittsburgh.  Since 
1912  he  has  been  vice-president,  treasurer 
and  director  of  that  institution,  and  he 
is  also  vice-president  and  director  of  the 
Parkersburg  Iron  &  Steel  Company  of 
West  Virginia ;  director  of  the  German 
Fire  Insurance  Company,  and  director  of 
the  Colonial  Trust  Company.  In  politics 
Mr.  Niemann  is  identified  with  the  Re- 
publicans, but  has  never  held  office.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church,  and 
holds  membership  in  various  clubs.  A 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  he  has 
attained  to  the  thirty-second  degree,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  Shrine. 

On  November  22,  1893,  Mr.  Niemann 
married  Irene  M.,  daughter  of  the  late 
Ernest  H.and  Sophia  (Landwehr)  Myers, 
of  Pittsburgh.  A  biography  and  por- 
trait of  Mr.  Myers  is  to  be  found  on  other 
pages  of  this  work.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nie- 
mann are  the  parents  of  the  following 
children :  Kenneth  Edward,  born  July 
24,  1902,  a  student  at  the  Hotchkiss 
School,  Lakeville,  Connecticut ;  and  Ame- 
lia Irene. 

Men  of  the  type  of  A.  Edward  Niemann 
seem  like  incarnations  of  the  spirit  of 
the  twentieth  century,  and  especially  of 
the  city  of  Pittsburgh — high-minded  and 
honorable,  and  ever  in  the  van  of  pro- 
gress. It  is  these  men  who  are  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  city  of  the  future. 


NIEMANN,  Charles  Franklin, 

Manufacturer. 

Among  the  well-known  and  aggressive 
manufacturers  and  business  men  of  Pitts- 
burgh is  C.  F.  Niemann,  president  and 
director  of  the  Parkersburg  Iron  &  Steel 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Company,  and  prominently  identified  with 
various  other  business  and  financial  insti- 
tutions. 

C  arles  Franklin  Niemann  was  born  in 
Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  February  22, 
1869,  son  of  the  late  Herman  H.  and  Mar- 
tha (Flowers)  Niemann.  His  education 
was  received  in  the  public  and  private 
schools  of  his  city,  and  at  the  early  age  of 
twenty-one  years  he  started  in  business 
for  himself,  entering  the  jewelry  business, 
which  was  followed  by  his  engaging  in 
various  other  enterprises  of  a  commercial 
nature.  In  1906  he  became  president  and 
director  of  the  Parkersb.urg  Iron  &  Steel 
Company,  and  its  commanding  place 
among  Pittsburgh  manufacturing  con- 
cerns is  due  largely  to  the  tireless  efforts 
of  its  president. 

The  thorough  business  qualifications  of 
Mr.  Niemann  have  always  been  in  demand 
on  boards  of  directors  of  different  organ- 
izations, and  his  public  spirit  has  led  him 
to  accept  many  such  trusts.  He  is  a  direc- 
tor of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Bank;  the  man- 
ufacturers' Light  &  Heat  Company  ;  Ger- 
mania  Savings  Bank,  and  is  interested  in 
many  other  institutions. 

Politically  Mr.  Niemann  is  affiliated 
with  the  Republican  party,  but  has  never 
accepted  office.  He  is  a  member  of  var- 
ious clubs  and  trade  associations.  He 
holds  membership  in  the  Point  Breeze 
Presbyterian  Church.  A  man  of  action 
rather  than  words,  he  demonstrates  his 
public  spirit  by  actual  achievements 
which  advance  the  prosperity  of  the  com- 
munity. Mr.  Niemann  is  a  thirty-second 
degree  Mason  and  member  of  the  Shrine. 

On  October  9,  1900,  Mr.  Niemann  mar- 
ried Mildred,  daughter  of  Harvey  and 
Harriett  (Holt)  Bartley,  of  Pittsburgh, 
and  they  are  the  parents  of  the"  follow- 
ing children  :  Martha  Virginia  ;  Charles 
Franklin  II.,  born  August  15,  1905;  and 
Florence  Gwendolin.     Both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 


Niemann  are  active  socially,  and  their 
home  is  the  seat  of  a  gracious  hospitality. 
Happily  gifted  in  manner,  disposition 
and  taste,  enterprising  and  original  in 
business  ideas,  personally  liked  most  by 
those  who  know  him  best,  and  as  frank  in 
declaring  his  principles  as  he  is  sincere 
in  maintaining  them,  Mr.  Niemann's 
career  has  been  rounded  with  success  and 
marked  by  the  appreciation  of  men  whose 
good  opinion  is  best  worth  having. 


McBRIDE,  William, 

Civil  Engineer,  Business  Man. 

"A  self-made  man"  is,  perhaps,  the. 
phrase  which  most  aptly  describes  Wil- 
liam McBride,  president  and  director  of 
the  Pittsburgh,  Mars  &  Butler  Railway 
Company  and  of  several  important  indus- 
trial corporations.  The  business  career 
of  Mr.  McBride  has  been  almost  entirely 
associated  with  the  Steel  City,  and  he  is 
quietly  but  intimately  identified  with  her 
club  circles  and  her  social  life. 

The  McBride  family  i?  an  ancient  and 
honorable  family  and  entitled  tu  the 
escutcheon  as  shown  in  colors  on  the 
opposite  page.  The  description  of  the 
McBride  coat-of-arms  is  as  follows : 

Arms — Gules,  a  cinquefoil  or,  within  eight 
crosses  p.-ttee  in  orle  of  the  last. 

Crest — Out  of  a  ducal  coronet  or.  an  eagle's 
head  argent. 

John  McBride,  father  of  William  Mc- 
Bride, was  born  April  16,  1846,  and  was 
a-  son  of  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (John- 
son) McBride,  the  former  a  native  of 
County  Cavan,  Ireland.  Thomas  Mc- 
Bride died  at  the  age  of  eighty-two.  John 
McBride  was  a  contractor  and  builder, 
and  his  death  occurred  September  4, 
1890.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Hans  and  Katherine  (Nixon)  Blakeley. 
Hans  kJlakelev,  u-1k>  was  a  native  of  Scot- 


30 


(M, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


land,  was  eighty-seven  at  the  time  of  his 
death. 

William  McBride,  son  of  John  and 
Elizabeth  (Blakeley)  McBride,  was  born 
October  28,  1874,  in  Troy,  New  York,  and 
received  his  earliest  education  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  his  native  city.  At  the  age 
of  thirteen  he  entered  the  service  of  the 
General  Electric  Company  of  Schenec- 
tady, New  York,  being  employed  in  and 
around  their  machine  shops,  and  later 
with  the  Ludlow  Valve  Manufacturing 
Company,  Troy,  New  York.  Meanwhile, 
by  diligent  study  and  attendance  at  the 
Troy  night  school,  he  fitted  himself  to 
enter  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Insti- 
tute, graduating  in  1899  with  the  degree  of 
Civil  Engineer.  Immediately  thereafter 
Mr.  McBride  associated  himself  with  the 
engineering  department  of  the  New  York 
Central  &  Hudson  River  Railroad,  but 
at  the  end  of  a  year  came  to  Pittsburgh, 
finding  employment  with  the  Aluminum 
Company  of  America.  After  remaining 
with  this  concern  for  one  year  he  obtained 
a  position  with  the  Standard  Under- 
ground Cable  Company,  maintaining  the 
connection  until  1906.  In  that  year  he 
became  president  of  the  Fort  Pitt  Spring 
&  Manufacturing  Company,  an  office 
which  he  still  retains.  In  1916  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  presidency  of  the  Harmony 
Electric  Company,  and  in  1917  to  that  of 
the  Elwood  and  Koppel  Bridge  Com- 
pany. The  same  year  he  was  elected 
president  of  the  Pittsburgh,  Mars  &  But- 
ler Railway  Company.  All  these  corpora- 
tions are  of  Pittsburgh  and  in  each  one  of 
them  Mr.  McBride  retains  his  office.  He 
is  a  director  of  the  Pittsburgh,  Harmony. 
Butler  &  New  Castle  Railway  Company 

In  the  sphere  of  politics,  Mr.  McBride 
has  always  been  an  adherent  of  the  Re- 
publican party.  He  is  a  director  of  the 
Ohio  Valley  Hospital,  McKees  Rocks, 
Pennsylvania.  Among  the  professional 
organizations  in  which  he  is  enrolled  are 


the  Rensselaer  Society  of  Engineers,  the 
American  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  and 
the  Railway  Business  Men's  Association. 
He  belongs  to  the  Pennsylvania  Society, 
and  his  clubs  are  the  Duquesne,  Edge- 
worth  and  Mountour  Country.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Sewickley  Presbyterian 
Church. 

From  his  record  it  may  easily  be 
inferred  that  Mr.  McBride  is  a  man  of 
great  tenacity  of  purpose,  the  persever- 
ance with  which  he  overcame  the  num- 
erous obstacles  which  stood  in  the  way  of 
his  acquiring  an  education  being  one 
strong  proof  of  his  possession  of  this  trait 
of  character.  He  declares  that  in  fitting 
himself  for  his  profession  he  found  mathe- 
matics his  most  efficient  helper,  but  that 
he  has  also  derived  much  aid  from  the 
study  of  history  and  the  perusal  of  the 
works  of  Shakespeare.  He  believes  that' 
by  following  the  Golden  Rule  and  prac- 
ticing what  he  calls,  most  significantly, 
"stick-to-it-iveness"  realization  of  ideals 
and  true  success  in  life  is  oftenest 
achieved. 

Mr.  McBride  married,  April  12,  1905, 
Emma  M.  B.,  daughter  of  Russell  H.  and 
Marie  C.  (Buhl)  Boggs,  of  Pittsburgh. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  McBride  are  the  parents  of 
one  daughter,  Marie  Boggs  McBride. 
Mrs.  McBride  is  a  woman  of  great  intel- 
ligence, charming  personality,  and  de- 
lightful domesticity,  and  the  union  be- 
tween husband  and  wife  is  one  of  perfect 
congeniality.  Mr.  McBride's  favorite 
recreations  are  golf  and  swimming,  but 
no  form  of  relaxation  rivals  for  him  the 
attractions  of  his  home. 

William  McBride  may  truly  be  styled 
the  architect  of  his  own  fortune,  but  for 
a  man  of  his  type  who  has  not  yet  com- 
pleted his  forty-fourth  year  much  accom- 
plishment is  both  possible  and  probable 
and  the  future  doubtless  holds  for  him  the 
attainment  of  very  many  results. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


PERRIN,  Morgan  L., 

Insurance  Actuary,  Financier. 

Head  of  one  of  the  oldest,  active  fire 
insurance  agencies  in  the  United  States, 
now  under  the  management  of  its 
founder,  a  retired  bank  president,  and 
honored  citizen  of  Pittston,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Mr.  Perrin  reviews  a  life  of  unusual 
business  activity  and  length,  more  than 
half  a  century  having  been  spent  in  bus- 
iness in  Pittston,  and  forty-six  of  those 
years  in  the  insurance  business  which  he 
founded,  owns  and  yet  controls. 

He  is  a  descendant  of  John  Perrin, 
born  in  1614,  came  from  London,  Eng- 
land, in  the  ship  "Safety,"  in  July,  1635, 
and  settled  first  at  Braintree,  Massachu- 
setts, where  he  was  among  the  organizers 
of  the  company  that  settled  Rehoboth. 
There  he  died,  September  13,  1674.  His 
wife  is  believed  to  have  been  that  Ann 
Godfrey,  a  widow,  who  died  in  Rehoboth, 
March  11,  1688.  He  left  two  sons,  John 
and  Abraham.  John  (2)  Perryn  was  in 
Rehoboth  before  1645,  and  was  buried  at 
Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  May  6,  1694, 
while  temporarily  residing  there  with  his 
son  Noah.  His  wife  was  baptized  Mary, 
and  to  them  a  large  family  was  born, 
including  a  son  John  (3)  Perrin,  born 
October  12,  1668,  the  eldest  child  of  his 
parents.  He  died  in  Rehoboth,  Massa- 
chusetts, May  6,  1694.  By  his  wife  Sarah 
he  had  a  son,  John  (4)  Perrin,  born  March 
8,  1692,  died  February  28,  1731.  He  mar- 
ried, in  1716,  Rachel  Ide,  born  in  1695, 
died  December  4,  1780.  This  John  (4) 
Perrin  and  his  wife  Rachel  Ide  were  the 
parents  of  three  sons,  the  youngest  being 
Timothy,  born  October  1,  1724.  He 
moved  to  Connecticut,  and  there  died  in 
1816.  He  married,  and  was  succeeded 
by  a  son  Timothy  (2)  Perrin,  who  mar- 
ried Lydia  Raymond,  the  line  of  descent 
being  through  their  eldest  son  Calvin,  the 


founder  of  the  family  in  the  Wyoming 
Valley. 

Calvin  Perrin,  born  September  17, 
1793,  came  from  Connecticut  to  Pennsyl- 
vania early  in  life,  and  settled  at  Kings- 
ton in  1819.  He  first  took  a  farm  upon 
the  flats  along  the  river,  but  a  year  later 
moved  back  to  the  higher  ground 
in  Northmoreland  township,  Luzerne 
county,  there  purchasing  a  farm.  Later 
the  farm  he  abandoned  on  the  flats  proved 
to  be  unusually  rich  in  anthracite  coal 
deposits.  He  served  in  the  War  of  1812, 
from  Connecticut,  his  homes  being  in 
that  State  at  Ashford  and  Thompson. 
After  his  location  on  the  farm  in  North- 
moreland, he  settled  down  to  the  steady 
life  of  a  farmer  and  there  resided  until 
his  death.  He  married,  May  22,  1816, 
Polly  Lawton,  who  died  in  Wyoming 
county,  Pennsylvania,  October  5,  1842. 
He  married  (second)  Lucretia  Shippey, 
who  died  July  24,  1896,  at  the  great  age 
of  one  hundred  and  two  years.  Calvin 
Perrin  and  his  first  wife,  Polly  Lawton, 
were  the  parents  of  four  sons  and  two 
daughters  :  George,  who  became  a  farmer 
of  Wyoming  county,  Pennsylvania,  mar- 
ried Charlotte  Ferguson ;  Pamelia,  mar- 
ried William  White ;  Daniel,  born  De- 
cember 23,  1822;  Betsey,  married  John 
Long;  Gurden,  of  further  mention;  and 
Ezra. 

Gurden  Perrin  of  the  Eighth  American 
generation,  was  born  in  Northmoreland 
township,  Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania, 
August  18,  1828,  died  December  24,  1866, 
his  life  of  usefulness  cut  short  even  before 
reaching  its  prime.  He  spent  his  youth 
at  the  homestead  farm,  obtaining  a  good 
education  in  the  public  school.  He  re- 
mained at  home  his  father's  assistant 
until  his  marriage,  then  taught  school  for 
a  time,  afterwards  cultivating  a  rental 
farm  until  1857,  when  he  opened  a  gro- 
cery store  near  Pittston,  in  Jenkins  town- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


ship.  He  was  quite  successful  there, 
remaining  five  years  before  moving  to 
Yatesville,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  estab- 
lished a  general  store  which  he  conducted 
until  his  death.  He  was  a  good  business 
man,  a  member  of  the  official  board  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and  a  Re- 
publican in  politics,  his  first  vote  being 
cast  for  the  first  presidential  candidate  of 
that  party,  General  John  C.  Fremont.  He 
was  a  man  thoroughly  respected  by  all 
who  knew  him,  integrity  and  uprightness 
distinguishing  his  private  and  business 
life.  Gurden  Perrin  married,  December 
16,  1847,  Fanny  Jane  Lewis,  born  at  Or- 
ange, Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania, 
August  8,  1829,  daughter  of  Rev.  Oliver 
and  Cynthia  (Smith)  Lewis,  of  Orange 
county,  New  York.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Per- 
rin were  the  parents  of  children:  Mor- 
gan L.,  of  further  mention ;  Arminda, 
born  September  24,  1848,  died  December 
26,  1864;  Mattie  J.,  married  Eugene  Bon- 
stein  ;  Emily  A.,  now  a  resident  of  West 
Pittston. 

Morgan  Lewis  Perrin,  of  the  ninth 
American  and  third  Pennsylvania  genera- 
tion, only  son  of  Gurden  and  Fanny  Jane 
(Lewis)  Perrin,  was  born  at  Mt.  Zion, 
Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  May  5, 
1850.  From  the  age  of  seven  he  has  been 
a  resident  of  Pittston,  Pennsylvania,  there 
being  educated  in  the  public  schools  and 
Wyoming  Seminary.  He  was  his  father's 
assistant  in  the  store  until  the  later's 
death,  December  24,  1866,  then  spent  six 
years  in  the  employ  of  the  Butler  Coal 
Company  of  Pittston,  beginning  as  clerk, 
and  acting  as  weightmaster,  bookkeeper 
and  superintendent  of  the  Pittston  plant. 
He  resigned  his  position  in  the  spring  of 
1872,  and  at  once  entered  the  insurance 
business,  a  field  of  activity  which  he  has 
never  abandoned  during  the  forty-six 
years  which  have  since  intervened.  He 
established  his  agency  in  Pittston  in 
Pa-10— 3  3. 


April,  1872,  having  secured  the  agency  for 
the  Niagara  Insurance  Company,  and  the 
Great  American  Insurance  Company  of 
New  York,  then  known  as  the  German- 
American  Insurance  Company,  his  com- 
missions authorizing  him  to  act  as  agent 
for  these  companies  being  the  oldest  now 
outstanding  with  either  company.  His 
agent's  authority  from  the  Liverpool  and 
London  and  Globe  Insurance  Company 
is  dated  in  1876,  and  all  three  are  yet  in 
force,  the  Pittston  agency  one  of  the 
strongest  centres  of  business,  and  the 
Pittston  agent  always  a  welcome  and  hon- 
ored guest  at  the  company's  headquar- 
ters. 

The  founding,  upbuilding  and  manage- 
ment of  his  large  and  important  agency 
has  been  his  principal  life  work,  but  he 
has  been  a  participant  in  a  great  deal  of 
Pittston's  business  activity.  He  was  an 
incorporator  and  a  member  of  the  first 
board  of  directors  of  the  People's  Savings 
Bank,  served  for  a  time,  then  retired  until 
March  29,  1909,  when  he  was  elected  a 
director  of  the  People's  Union  Savings 
Bank,  a  merger  of  the  People's  Savings 
Bank,  and  the  Union  Savings  and  Trust 
Company.  He  served  as  director  of  the 
merged  corporations  until  April  24,  1913, 
when  he  was  elected  president  to  succeed 
William  Drury,  who  died  April  14,  1913. 
Under  President  Perrin  the  bank  con- 
tinued unusually  prosperous,  but  the 
demands  of  the  office  so  seriously  inter- 
fered with  his  private  business  that  on 
January  18,  1917,  he  resigned  as  presi- 
dent, but  yet  retains  his  place  upon  the 
board  of  directors.  He  is  also  a  director 
of  the  Hitchner  Biscuit  Company,  of 
West  Pittston ;  treasurer  and  director  of 
the  Commonwealth  Telephone  Company ; 
president-treasurer  of  the  Forty-Fort 
Silk  Company.  Along  with  this  business 
activity  of  over  half  a  century,  Mr.  Per- 
rin has  carried  a  love  for  the  farm  and 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


farm  life,  particularly  for  fine  horses,  he 
having  owned  some  of  the  fine  blooded 
stock  of  the  county,  many  of  these  hav- 
ing been  bred  upon  his  own  farm.  He  is 
a  Republican  in  politics,  an  attendant  of 
the   Methodist   Episcopal   church. 

Mr.  Perrin  married,  May  I,  1870,  Anna 
L.  Searle,  born  October  13,  185 1,  died 
October  7,  1910,  daughter  of  James  and 
Elizabeth  (Furman)  Searle,  of  Pitts- 
ton.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Perrin  are  the  par- 
ents of:  Jessie  Angela,  born  February 
5,  1871,  died  July  16,  1912,  wife  of  H.  M. 
Daman;  Ralph  Ernest,  died  aged  four 
years;  Ella  Searle,  born  August  10, 
1880,  a  graduate  of  Wyoming  Seminary, 
class  of  1898,  married  Jasper  C.  Acker- 
man,  of  Poughkeepsie,  New  York;  now 
living  in  Wilkinsburg,  Pennsylvania ; 
Mary  Nadine,  born  April  12,  1886,  a  grad- 
uate of  Wyoming  Seminary,  class  of 
1905,  Syracuse  University,  1909,  married 
George  Perkins  Lunt,  of  Boston,  now 
residing  in  New  York  City. 


BROWN,  Percy  Arthur, 

Progressive  Business  Man. 

Percy  A.  Brown,  head  of  the  firm  of 
Percy  A.  Brown  &  Company,  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
enterprising,  progressive  and  successful 
business  firms  of  Wilkes-Barre,  is  a 
descendant  of  a  German  ancestry,  and  he 
inherits  in  marked  degree  the  attributes 
of  the  people  of  that  nation, — namely, 
thrift,  energy  and  progressive  ideas. 

The  earliest  known  ancestor  of  the 
branch  of  the  family  herein  followed  was 
Abraham  Brown,  a  resident  of  Wiirtem- 
berg,  Germany,  where  he  spent  his  active 
career.  He  married  Catherine  Holdt,  and 
among  their  children  was  a  son,  Charles 
Christian,  of  whom  further. 

Charles  Christian  Brown  was  born  in 
Wiirtemberg,    Germany,    May    io,    1831, 


and  died  at  Nescopeck,  Luzerne  county, 
Pennsylvania,  April  9,  1896.  He  obtained 
a  practical  education  in  his  native  land, 
and  in  1845,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  he 
accompanied  his  brother-in-law,  Michael 
Bacher,  to  the  United  States,  landing  in 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  from  whence 
they  went  by  canal  to  Berwick,  thence  to 
Dorrance  township,  where  he  devoted  his 
attention  to  agricultural  pursuits.  In 
1852  he  purchased  a  tract  of  land  of  about 
forty  acres,  which  he  cleared  and  put 
under  cultivation,  and  at  the  expiration 
of  twelve  years  he  disposed  of  his  farm 
and  moved  to  the  city  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  where  for  nine  years  he  engaged 
in  mercantile  pursuits  and  for  two 
years  engaged  in  a  dairy  business.  He 
then  removed  to  Wapwallopen,  Luzerne 
county,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  con- 
ducted a  dairy  business  for  one  year,  and 
during  the  following  six  years  he  con- 
ducted the  J.  C.  Nicely  farm  at  Moca- 
naqua,  same  county.  In  1886  he  pur- 
chased a  farm  in  Nescopeck  and  there 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  days.  He  mar- 
ried Catherine  Ehman  Amarin,  of  Wiir- 
temberg, Germany,  and  they  were  the 
parents  of  seven  children :  Franklin  J., 
of  whom  further ;  Alvin ;  Alice,  who 
became  the  wife  of  Theodore  Lawalt ; 
Agnes ;  Frances,  who  became  the  wife  of 
Ira  Boyd;    Hannah;    Maggie. 

Franklin  J.  Brown  was  born  in  Dor- 
rance township,  Luzerne  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, March  2,  1855.  He  attended  the 
district  school,  during  the  winter  months, 
and  during  the  remainder  of  the  year 
assisted  with  the  work  of  the  home  farm, 
remaining  with  his  parents  until  he 
attained  the  age  of  twenty-four.  He  then 
worked  a  farm  on  shares  located  in 
Butler  township,  Luzerne  county,  and  in 
the  year  1884  took  up  his  residence  in 
Wilkes-Barre,  where  he  has  since  fol- 
lowed different  pursuits,  achieving  a  cer- 


34 


16C7110 

ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


tain  degree  of  success  in  all  his  undertak- 
ings. He  married,  December  13,  1877, 
Mary  T.  Wenner,  daughter  of  Peter  and 
Elizabeth  (Heimbach)  Wenner.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Brown  are  the  parents  of  two  chil- 
dren :  Edwin  C,  and  Percy  Arthur,  of 
whom  further. 

Percy  Arthur  Brown  was  born  in  But- 
ler township,  Luzerne  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, October  24,  1884.  During  his  early 
life  his  parents  removed  to  Wilkes-Barre, 
and  in  the  schools  of  that  city  he  acquired 
a  practical  education.  He  then  entered 
upon  his  business  career  and  was  em- 
ployed successively  with  the  Boston 
Store,  L.  M.  Utz,  Herman  Knappman  and 
Fred  L.  LaFrance,  and  upon  the  death 
of  the  last  named  employer  in  1905,  he 
assumed  the  management  of  the  busi- 
ness, his  father  and  he  forming  a  partner- 
ship, but  at  the  expiration  of  two  years 
the  father  retired  and  the  business  was 
conducted  by  the  son  alone  until  1910, 
when  he  admitted  to  partnership  B.  F. 
Williams,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  and  Robert 
C.  Smith,  formerly  of  Smith  &  Frantz, 
and  thereafter  the  business  was  con- 
ducted under  the  name  of  Percy  A. 
Brown  &  Company.  From  a  purely  meat 
shop,  the  firm  has  developed  until  at  the 
present  time  (1917)  it  is  one  of  the  larg- 
est firms  in  Northeastern  Pennsylvania, 
thoroughly  established  and  up-to-date  in 
every  detail  in  a  business  that  takes  in 
meats,  delicatessen,  cream,  buttermilk, 
fruit,  vegetables  and  fish.  They  have 
recently  remodeled  and  enlarged  their 
store  rooms,  located  at  Nos.  24-26-28  East 
Northampton  street,  and  there  is  found 
ideal  arrangement  and  complete  mastery 
of  details. 

In  the  main  store  room,  on  the  right,  is 
a  meat  counter,  thirty  feet  in  length,  with 
glass  casings.  This  case  is  electrically 
lighted  and  thoroughly  refrigerated  at  an 
even  temperature.  The  meats  are  cut 
fresh  in  the  refrigerators  and  shipped  to 


the  sales  counters  by  well  arranged  car- 
riers. Back  of  the  glass  cases  is  the 
counter,  and  back  of  each  counter  is  a 
sanitary  wash  basin  for  the  use  of  the 
salesmen.  In  the  rear  of  the  ice  counter 
are  the  main  ice  boxes,  which  are  arti- 
ficially cooled,  but  so  arranged  that  vari- 
ous degrees  of  temperature  can  be  main- 
tained. In  the  rear  of  the  main  ice  box 
is  another  large  one  in  which  there  is  a 
slightly  lighter  temperature.  In  the  rear 
of  the  main  sales  room  is  the  counter  for 
the  sale  of  cream  buttermilk,  a  thoroughly 
pasteurized  and  wholesome  liquid  pre- 
pared in  the  large  establishment  of  the 
firm.  This  has  a  •  glass  counter  and 
answers  the  same  purpose  as  a  soda  foun- 
tain. To  the  left  of  the  main  room  is  the 
delicatessen  counter,  running  the  length 
of  the  store.  It  is  cooled  to  any  degree  by 
refrigerator  pipes.  In  front  of  the  main 
room,  on  the  left,  is  the  butter  and  egg 
counter,  all  glass  encased  and  refriger- 
ated. In  the  new  addition  is  the  fish  and 
vegetable  market,  which  is  connected 
with  the  main  sales  room  by  a  large 
entrance,  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
arrangements  from  a  sanitary  standpoint 
in  the  entire  country.  The  front  has 
folding  doors,  which  can  be  thrown  open 
to  produce  a  market  effect,  and  in  warm 
weather  screens  and  electrical  fans  are 
added.  A  large  fish  display  bin  is  one  of 
the  features.  This  is  a  tile  bin,  insulated 
with  cork  and  refrigerated.  Glass  doors, 
encased  in  German  silver,  are  lifted  by 
weights.  Proper  drainage  is  provided. 
There  is  also  another  large  bin  for  stor- 
age of  fish.  This  is  constructed  in  the 
same  manner,  only  that  cracked  ice  is 
used  for  cooling  purposes.  In  this  case 
are  hot  and  cold  water  faucets  for  cleans- 
ing purposes.  The  oyster  and  clam  tanks 
are  encased  in  tile  with  cork  insulation 
and  German  silver  lids  and  tops.  To  the 
left  of  this  store  room  are  the  vegetable 
counters  and  display  shelves.    These  are 


35 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


neatly  arranged  and  designed  so  as  to 
show  the  products  to  the  best  advantage. 
In  the  rear  of  this  room,  reached  by  a 
small  flight  of  stairs,  is  the  office  and 
telephone  exchange.  A  number  of  young 
women  are  employed  here.  Six  telephone 
trunk  lines  enter  the  office,  four  of  the 
Bell  and  two  of  the  Consolidated.  An 
exchange  girl  is  kept  constantly  employed 
and  all  orders  are  received  in  the  office 
and  sent  by  tubes  to  the  sales  forces, 
where  wrappings  are  made  and  the  goods 
sent  by  carrier  to  the  rear  of  the  build- 
ing where  the  shipping  department  is 
conveniently  and  splendidly  arranged.  In 
the  cellar  is  the  large  ice  machine,  driven 
by  a  motor.  At  one  end  is  the  pump  which 
pumps  the  water  from  the  ground,  two 
wells  having  been  located  in  the  cellar 
and  immediately  set  in  use.  This  water 
is  used  only  for  cooling  purposes.  In 
the  cellar  are  the  cloak  rooms  and  spac- 
ious lofts  for  storage  purposes.  Every 
door  and  window  is  screened,  and  at  each 
entrance  to  the  rooms  is  an  electrical  fan 
on  the  outside  of  the  building  for  sani- 
tary purposes.  At  each  counter  is  a  cash 
desk,  so  that  change  is  readily  made  and 
the  customer  not  kept  waiting.  In  the 
rear  of  the  plot,  detached  from  the  main 
building,  are  delicatessen  shops,  the  meat 
grinding  shops,  and  the  fine  new  cream 
buttermilk  room,  wherein  is  one  of  the 
greatest  displays  of  machinery  in  this 
entire  section.  Here  are  cream  separating 
machines,  the  large  churns,  the  cold  cool- 
ing tanks,  the  ice  grinders,  bottle  wash- 
ing apparatus,  everything  of  the  most 
modern  type. 

Mr.  Brown,  with  his  progressive  ideas 
and  keen  judgment,  realized  that  in  the 
near  future  Wilkes-Barre  would  develop 
along  metropolitan  lines  and  that  there 
would  be  a  great  demand  for  larger  and 
better  business  establishments,  and  ac- 
cordingly he  set  to  work,  with  the  aid  of 
his  partners,  to  cope  with  this  responsi- 


bility, and  the  result  is  most  gratifying  to 
the  members  of  the  firm  and  to  their  many 
patrons.  He  has  witnessed  the  growth  of 
his  business  venture  from  three  em- 
ployees to  thirty-six,  and  it  is  still  grow- 
ing. At  the  end  of  the  year  1914  the 
faithful  employees  of  the  firm  were  noti- 
fied by  check  that  they  were  interested 
in  the  firm's  development,  and  the  dis- 
tribution of  a  proportion  of  the  net  earn- 
ings of  this  firm  has  been  continued  since 
that  time. 

Mr.  Brown  is  an  active  member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Wilkes-Barre, 
served  in  the  capacity  of  trustee  for  four 
years,  in  1916  was  elected  president,  and 
reelected  trustee.  On  June  8,  1915,  he 
was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Wilkes- 
Barre  school  board,  to  succeed  the  late 
Dr.  Guthrie,  and  in  the  following  year 
was  elected  a  member,  this  fact  attesting 
to  his  popularity  and  efficiency.  He  holds 
membership  in  the  Order  of  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons,  Benevolent  and  Pro- 
tective Order  of  Elks,  Franklin  Club,  and 
St.  John's  Lutheran  Church.  He  is  a 
Republican  in  politics. 

Mr.  Brown  married,  October  24.  1906, 
Leah  Brink,  daughter  of  Peter  and  Mary 
(Gay)  Brink,  of  Laceyville,  Pennsyl- 
vania. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  are  the  par-  j 
ents  of  one  daughter,  Orceil,  born  July 
22,   1908. 


DIEHL,  Ambrose  Nevin, 

Expert   in    Chemistry. 

Ambrose  Nevin  Diehl  was  born  in 
York,  York  county,  Pennsylvania.  Octo- 
ber 20,  1876,  son  of  Andrew  K.  and 
Sarah  L.  (Gring)  Diehl.  Mr.  Diehl  is 
descended  from  old  York  county  stock, 
his  ancestors  having  lived  in  that  sec- 
tion for  over  two  hundred  years. 

Mr.  Diehl  received  his  early  education 
in  the  public  and  private  schools  of  York, 
after   which   he   entered  York   Collegiate 


tf 


/«*„,.,    .//.     ZwrvaAc 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Institute,  graduating  in  1894.  Immedi- 
ately thereafter  he  entered  the  class  of 
1898  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  College, 
became  a  member  of  the  Sigma  Chi  fra- 
ternity, and  after  a  four-year  course  left 
that  institution  with  the  degree  of  B.  S., 
having  specialized  in  chemistry.  In  1898 
Mr.  Diehl  obtained  the  position  of  assist- 
ant chemist  in  the  Pennsylvania  State 
Experimental  Station,  and  remained  one 
year.  In  1899  hejrteame  with  the  Du- 
quesne  Steel  Works  and  Blast  Furnaces 
of  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company  as  a 
chemist,  and  was  transferred  to  the  Blast 
Furnace  Department  in  March,  1900.  He 
was  appointed  assistant  superintendent  of 
Blast  Furnaces  in  October,  1900,  and 
given  charge  of  the  department  in  Octo- 
ber, 1901.  This  position  he  held  until  No- 
vember, 191 5,  when  he  was  made  assistant 
general  superintendent  of  the  Duquesne 
Steel  Works,  which  position  he  held  until 
April  1,  1917,  when  he  was  made  assistant 
to  the  vice-president  of  the  Carnegie  Steel 
Company,  with  headquarters  in  Pitts- 
burgh.    This  office  he  now  holds. 

Mr.  Diehl  is' a  director  of  the  Duquesne 
Trust  Company,  and  a  trustee  of  the 
Pennsylvania  State  College.  In  politics 
he  is  a  Republican.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  En- 
gineers, the  Engineers'  Society  of  West- 
ern Pennsylvania  and  the  American  Iron 
and  Steel  Institute.  He  is  also  a  member 
and  director  of  the  University  Club  of 
Pittsburgh,  Pittsburgh  Country  Club, 
Oakmont  Country  Club,  Pittsburgh  Ath- 
letic Club,  Press  Club  and  various  others 
of  a  social  and  fraternal  nature. 


LANAHAN,  James  K., 

Public-spirited    Citizen. 

Many  of  Pittsburgh's  most  valued 
citizens  have  been  men  of  Irish  birth  and 
parentage,  and  in  none  has  the  versatile 


ability  of  the  race  been  better  and  more 
strikingly  illustrated  than  in  the  late 
James  K.  Lanahan,  for  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century  proprietor  of  the  celebrated 
St.  James  Hotel,  and  prominently  identi- 
fied with  a  number  of  the  leading  finan- 
cial concerns  of  the  Iron  City. 

James  K.  Lanahan  was  born  March  17, 
1 83 1,  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  was  a 
son  of  James  and  Susan  (Krickart)  Lana- 
han. The  boy  received  his  early  educa- 
tion— a  very  meagre  one — in  his  native 
land,  and  before  reaching  manhood  emi- 
grated to  the  United  States,  making  the 
voyage  alone  and  paying  his  way  to  Pitts- 
burgh by  driving  cattle  over  the  moun- 
tains. He  apprenticed  himself  at  the 
Bradley  Foundry  and,  after  learning  his 
trade,  saved  his  wages  in  order  to  defray 
the  expense  of  a  more  liberal  education 
than  he  had  yet  enjoyed.  He  pursued  a 
course  of  study  at  St.  Francis'  School,  in 
Loretto,  and  in  his  appreciation  of  the 
fact  that  thorough  educational  equipment 
was  necessary  for  success  in  life  showed 
a  degree  of  foresight  and  a  soundness  of 
judgment  rarely  met  with  in  a  youth  of  his 
limited  opportunities  and  slight  knowl- 
edge of  the  world. 

On  returning  to  Pittsburgh,  Mr.  Lana- 
han established  a  hotel  on  Penn  avenue, 
near  the  old  canal  locks,  the  venture  being 
attended  by  a  gratifying  measure  of  suc- 
cess. In  1868  he  moved  to  Liberty  ave- 
nue and  there  opened  the  St.  James  Hotel, 
an  establishment  which  became  famous 
in  the  annals  of  hostelry.  For  twenty 
years  it  was  conducted  by  Mr.  Lanahan, 
gaining  under  his  able  proprietorship  a 
wide  reputation  for  the  excellence  of  its 
management  and  the  completeness  of  its 
equipment.  To  his  associates  Mr.  Lana- 
han showed  a  genial,  kindly,  humorous 
side  of  his  nature  which  made  their  rela- 
tions most  enjoyable,  and  by  a  systematic 
course    of    industry     and     integrity    he 


37 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


proved  himself  to  be  a  dependable  man 
under  any  circumstances  and  in  any 
emergency.  Possessing  as  he  did  strong 
mental  endowments,  and  best  of  all  a 
rare  treasury  of  common  sense,  James  K. 
Lanahan's  business  capacity  was  remark- 
able and  his  judgment  of  men  excep- 
tional. He  was  a  large  stockholder  in 
the  Lustre  Mining  Company,  and  in 
many  other  financial  concerns,  and 
owned,  moreover,  much  valuable  real 
estate,  being  a  fine  judge  of  its  dormant 
possibilities.  In  1888  he  relinquished  the 
proprietorship  of  the  St.  James  Hotel. 

As  a  citizen  with  exalted  ideas  of  good 
government  and  civic  virtue,  Mr.  Lana- 
han  stood  in  the  front  rank,  never  refus- 
ing his  influence  and  support  to  any 
movement  which,  in  his  judgment, 
tended  to  advance  the  welfare  of  Pitts- 
burgh. His  political  affiliations  were 
with  the  Democrats,  and  he  consented  to 
serve  one  term  as  member  of  Council 
from  the  Ninth  Ward,  but  took  little 
active  interest  in  political  questions.  Ever 
ready  to  respond  to  any  deserving  call 
made  upon  him,  he  was  widely,  but  unos- 
tentatiously, charitable.  He  was  a  Roman 
Catholic  and  a  member  of  the  Sacred 
Heart  congregation.  A  man  of  great 
tenacity  of  purpose,  an  extraordinary 
degree  of  force  and  such  persistency  as  is 
rarely  met  with,  these  characteristics 
were  depicted  on  his  countenance,  as 
were  also  the  cordiality  and  kindliness 
which,  in  combination  with  his  unim- 
peachable integrity,  gained  for  him  the 
public  confidence  and  surrounded  him 
with  hosts  of  friends. 

Mr.  Lanahan  married,  July  2,  1867, 
in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  Mary  A., 
daughter  of  Frank  and  Catherine  (Smith) 
Reilly,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  they  became 
the  parents  of  the  following  children : 
Frank  J.;  J.  Stevenson;  Susanne,  wife 
of  William  M.  Anderson;   and  Florence, 


widow  of  William  D.  Phelan.  Mrs. 
Lanahan,  a  woman  whose  winning  per- 
sonality has  gained  for  her  much  social 
popularity,  was  a  true  helpmate  to  her 
husband,  whose  devotion  to  his  wife  and 
family  was  one  of  his  most  marked  char- 
acteristics, and  whose  happiest  hours 
were  passed  in  the  home  circle. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Lanahan,  which 
occurred  January  29,  1899,  deprived  Pitts- 
burgh of  one  of  her  most  valued  citizens, 
a  man  who  owed  the  success  of  his  life  to 
no  inherited  fortune  nor  to  any  combina- 
tion of  advantageous  circumstances,  but 
to  his  own  sturdy  will,  steady  applica- 
tion, tireless  industry  and  sterling  quali- 
ties of  manhood.  Kindliness  and  appre- 
ciation of  the  good  traits  of  others  con- 
stituted salient  features  in  his  character, 
and  his  life  was  in  large  measure  an  exem- 
plification of  his  belief  in  the  brotherhood 
of  mankind. 

James  K.  Lanahan  was  a  noble  type  of 
the  self-made  man.  The  architect  of  his 
fortune,  in  rearing  the  fair  fabric  of  his 
own  prosperity  he  aided  largely  in  the 
upbuilding  of  the  power  and  prestige  of 
his  adopted  city,  and  Pittsburgh  to-day 
holds  his  name  and  memory  in  honor. 


FOSTER,  Charles  H. 

Efficient  Citlaen. 

Now  well  over  the  mark  which  admit- 
ted him  to  the  rank  of  octogenarian, — 
just  past  his  eighty-fifth  birthday,  to  be 
exact, — Charles  H.  Foster,  oi  Pittston, 
gives  little  evidence  of  the  great  weight 
of  years  he  carries.  For  almost  seventy 
of  those  years  Pittston  has  been  his  home, 
and  there  is  no  phase  of  Pittston's  devel- 
opment but  what  he  has  watched  from  its 
beginning.  He  has  prospered  in  his  per- 
sonal business  undertakings,  and  during 
his  long  life  of  activity  and  years  of 
retirement  has  held  the  highest  respect 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


of  the  community  in  which  he  has  so  long 
resided.  He  is  a  grandson  of  Reuben 
Foster,  born  in  New  Hampshire,  who 
came  to  Oneida  county,  New  York,  prior 
to  the  year  1800,  and  there  conducted  a 
small  farm.  His  son,  Reuben  (2)  Fos- 
ter, was  born  in  Oneida  county,  and  there 
lived  until  his  death  in  1852,  a  carpenter 
and  a  caulker.  He  married  Mary  Jane 
Curtis,  of  Connecticut  parentage,  and 
they  were  the  parents  of:  Charles  H. 
Foster,  of  further  mention ;  George  A., 
deceased;  Frances  J.,  married  David  E. 
Wood,  of  Utica,  New  York ;  Margaret  E., 
married  Mr.  Dennison,  of  Utica;  and 
Jesse,  of  Utica,  deceased. 

Charles  H.  Foster,  eldest  son  of  Reu- 
ben (2)  and  Mary  Jane  (Curtis)  Foster, 
was  born  at  Bridgewater,  Oneida  county, 
New  York,  eighteen  miles  south  of  Utica, 
April  17,  1833.  Until  fourteen  years  of 
age  he  attended  the  public  school,  but  he 
had  two  maternal  uncles  living  at  Pitts- 
ton,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  the  early  sum- 
mer of  1848  he  started  to  join  them.  He 
traveled  by  stage  to  Binghamton,  New 
York,  thence  by  the  same  mode  of  con- 
veyance to  Montrose,  Pennsylvania, 
Tunkhannock  to  Pittston  Ferry,  arriving 
June  25,  1848.  Pie  found  his  uncles  and 
found  employment  with  one  of  them  as 
clerk  and  driver  with  the  firm,  Wisner  & 
Curtis,  general  merchants  of  Pittston. 
He  continued  with  this  firm  two  years, 
when  they  dissolved,  Thomas  E.  Cur- 
tis establishing  a  similar  business  for 
himself.  The  young  lad  remained  with 
his  uncle  Thomas  E.  Curtis,  for  a 
time,  then  became  a  clerk  in  the 
store  of  Thomas  Ford  &  Co.  Later 
he  went  west,  and  for  two  years  was 
clerk  in  a  general  store  at  Winona,  Min- 
nesota, then  returned  to  Pittston,  where 
soon  afterward  he  married.  He  then 
accompanied  the  William  Ford  family  to 
Virginia,  settling  in  that  part  now  West 


Virginia,  at  St.  Albans,  in  Kanawha 
county,  on  the  Great  Kanawha  river. 
There  he  remained  until  the  outbreak  of 
war  between  the  States,  when  he  returned 
to  Pittston,  and  established  a  general 
store  at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Water 
streets,  the  building  he  occupied  standing 
upon  the  present  site  of  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  building.  He  continued  in 
mercantile  life  until  the  year  1900,  then, 
having  reached  the  age  of  sixty-seven, 
and  in  possession  of  a  competence,  he 
retired  from  active  business  life,  only 
retaining  his  place  upon  the  directorate 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Pittston,  a 
place  which  he  has  filled  for  fifty-four 
years,  or  since  its  organization  in  1864. 
The  foregoing  record  covers  a  period  of 
fifty-two  years — the  boy  of  fifteen  eagerly 
making  his  first  journey  by  stage  coach, 
giving  way  to  the  veteran  retired  mer- 
chant of  sixty-seven,  after  a  life  of  hon- 
est effort  intelligently  directed. 

Equally  remarkable  is  the  record  Mr. 
Foster  has  made  in  connection  with  the 
West  Pittston  school  board.  In  1876  he 
was  elected  school  director,  and  the  same 
year  was  chosen  secretary  of  the  board. 
During  the  forty-two  years  which  have 
since  elapsed,  and  with  the  exception  of 
two  years  and  ten  days,  he  has  served 
continuously  in  that  office,  elections  and 
reflections  following  without  number. 
He  is  a  member  of  St.  John's  Lodge,  No. 
233,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  of  Pitts- 
ton; Gohonto  Lodge,  No.  314,  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  his  mem- 
bership dating  from  May  6,  1854.  In 
religious  preference  he  is  a  Methodist. 

Mr.  Foster  married,  May  10,  1859, 
Mary  Jane  Ford,  born  August  26,  1834, 
daughter  of  William  and  Jane  (Ireland) 
Ford  of  Pittston.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Foster 
are  the  parents  of  a  daughter  and  two  sons  : 
1.  Alice,  married  Isaac  L.  Bevan,  of  Pitts- 
ton ;    their  children :     Robert,  Lawrence, 


39 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Paul,  and  Kenneth  Bevan.  2.  Oscar,  mar- 
ried Isabel  Allen  ;  their  children :  Allen, 
Mary,  Louise,  Isabel,  Florence  and  Cor- 
nelia Foster.  3.  William  L.,  married 
Ella  Bryden  ;  their  children  :  Elsie,  Don- 
ald, and  Catherine  Foster. 


FAGAN,  Charles  A., 

Lawyer,  Corporation  Official. 

Charles  Aloysius  Fagan  is  one  of  the 
prominent  and  successful  lawyers  of  the 
Pittsburgh  bar.  He  was  born  in  Pitts- 
burgh, July  I,  1859,  his  parents  being 
Thomas  J.  Fagan  and  Mary  McLaughlin 
Fagan.  His  education  was  acquired  suc- 
cessively at  St.  Mary's  Academy,  Ewalt 
College,  and  the  Pittsburgh  Catholic  Col- 
lege. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1887. 
For  a  time  he  held  office  as  Deputy  Dis- 
trict Attorney  under  District  Attorney 
W.  D.  Porter,  now  judge  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  late  Rich- 
ard H.  Johnson,  and  displayed  such  abil- 
ity in  his  conduct  of  cases  that  he  was 
appointed  to  the  office  of  Assistant  Dis- 
trict Attorney  in  1894  by  Hon.  Robert  E. 
Pattison,  then  Governor  of  Pennsylvania, 
to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Hon.  John  C. 
Haymaker,  now  judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  of  Allegheny  county.  In 
his  legal  practice  he  has  for  a  partner  ex- 
Senator  William  A.  Magee,  the  firm 
practicing  under  the  title  of  Fagan  & 
Magee.  During  the  term  of  the  latter  as 
mayor  of  Pittsburgh,  Mr.  Fagan  became 
associated  in  partnership  with  Robert  T. 
McElroy,  since  deceased.  The  firm  with 
which  Mr.  Fagan  is  connected  has  a  gen- 
eral practice. 

Mr.  Fagan  gives  his  political  support 
to  the  principles  of  the  Democratic  party, 
and  has  been  an  active  factor  in  the  coun- 
cils of  this  party.  He  was  Democratic 
presidential     elector     for     the     Twenty- 


second  Congressional  District  of  Penn- 
slyvania  in  1892,  and  was  chairman  of  the 
Democratic  County  Committee  of  Alle- 
gheny County,  1894-95.  The  following 
year  he  was  elected  one  of  the  delegates- 
at-large  to  the  Democratic  National  Con- 
vention of  that  year ;  and  was  a  delegate 
to  the  Democratic  Convention  held  at  St. 
Louis  in  1916. 

In  addition  to  the  demands  made  upon 
Mr.  Fagan  by  his  legal  work,  he  is  inter- 
ested in  a  number  of  corporate  institu- 
tions, being  vice-president  of  the  Iron 
City  Sanitary  Manufacturing  Company ; 
director  in  the  Pittsburgh  &  Lake  Erie 
Ship  Canal  Company,  the  Anthracite 
Coal  Company,  the  Natalie  &  Mt.  Carmel 
Railroad  Company,  the  East  Williston 
Colony  Company  of  New  York,  the  Lake 
Shore  Realty  Company  of  Ohio,  and 
other  corporations. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Duquesne  Club, 
the  Union  Club,  the  Pittsburgh  Country 
Club,  the  Oakmont  Country  Club  and  the 
Pittsburgh  Press  Club.  He  is  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Pittsburgh  Hospital ;  is  a 
member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the 
Boys'  Industrial  School  of  Allegheny 
County,  and  a  member  of  the  Western 
Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 

Mr.  Fagan  married,  February  9,  1887, 
Miss  Mary  Kane,  daughter  of  Mr.  P.  C. 
Kane,  a  retired  merchant  of  Pittsburgh. 
They  have  had  children:  Marie,  now 
Mrs.  George  L.  Walter,  Jr. ;  Jean,  Grace, 
Dorothy,  and  Charles  A.,  Jr.  The  family 
resides  at  North  Highland  avenue  and 
St.  Marie  street,  East  End,  Pittsburgh. 


WOLF,  Samuel  M.,  M.  D., 

Physician,  Enterprising  Citizen. 

About  the  year  1780,  Jacob  Wolf  left  his 
home  in  his  native  Bucks  county,  and 
came  to  the  Wyoming  Valley,  of  Penn- 
sylvania, settling  in  Union  township,  Lu- 


Q(hK 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


zerne  county,  where  he  acquired  land, 
worshiped  with  the  pioneers  as  a  Bap- 
tist, and  died,  honored  and  respected,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-eight.  He  was  one  of 
the  men  who  laid  the  foundations  for  the 
present  prosperity  of  that  section,  and 
founded  a  family  of  strong  men  and 
women  who  have  worthily  borne  their 
part  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  community 
with  which  their  lot  was  cast.  A  century 
later  a  great-grandson,  Dr.  Samuel  M. 
Wolf,  was  a  school  boy  in  the  district 
school  of  the  township  the  pioneers 
founded,  and  from  that  school  went  out 
to  higher  institutions  of  classical  and  pro- 
fessional learning,  returning  to  practice 
his  healing  art  in  the  chief  city  of  the 
Valley,  where  he  has  now  been  located 
for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  1895- 
1918. 

Jacob  Wolf  reared  a  family  of  sons  and 
daughters  on  the  old  homestead  in  Union 
township,  among  them  a  son,  Samuel 
Wolf,  who  aided  in  clearing  and  culti- 
vating the  home  farm,  remaining  thereon 
until  his  marriage  to  Catherine  Roberts 
in  1828.  He  then  rented  a  farm  near 
Muhlenburg,  Union  township,  upon  which 
he  remained  four  years,  prospering  suf- 
ficiently during  that  period  to  enable  him 
to  purchase  eighty  acres  of  wild  land 
upon  which  the  former  owner  had 
built  a  log  house.  There  Samuel  Wolf 
and  his  wife  resided  for  several  years, 
but  prosperity  attended  them,  and  from 
the  bountiful  field  of  their  well-tilled 
acres  a  fund  was  accumulated,  which 
in  time  was  used  to  replace  the  log 
house  with  one  of  modern  design  and 
construction.  There  Samuel  Wolf  lived 
his  many  years,  a  man  well  liked  and 
respected,  a  town  officer,  a  Baptist,  and  a 
Republican.  He  died  in  1878,  aged  sev- 
enty-six years,  his  wife  preceding  him  to 
the  grave  in  1867,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 
They  were  the  parents  of  eleven  daugh- 


ters and  sons,  the  eldest,  Stephen  R., 
being  the  father  of  Dr.  Samuel  M.  Wolf, 
whose  useful  life  is  the  inspiration  of 
this  review. 

Stephen  R.  Wolf  was  born  at  Muhlen- 
burg, Union  township,  Pennsylvania,  No- 
vember 12,  1827,  there  resided  all  his  life, 
a  farmer,  and  there  died,  December  9, 
1903.  He  was  skilled  in  the  use  of  tools 
and  did  considerable  carpenter  work  in 
connection  with  his  farming  operations, 
and  also  took  an  active  part  in  township 
public  affairs,  holding  at  different  times 
nearly  every  office  of  the  town.  Like  his 
sires,  he  was  a  devoted  member  of  the 
Baptist  church,  holding  the  office  of  clerk, 
and  in  his  political  faith  he  was  a  Re- 
publican. Stephen  R.  Wolf  married 
(first)  October  2,  1852,  Dorcas  Ben- 
scoter,  daughter  of  Isaac  and  Sarah  Ben- 
scoter;  she  died  March  30,  1853.  He 
married  (second)  January  5,  1854,  Ellen 
Harding,  daughter  of  James  and  Saman- 
tha  Harding;  she  died  January,  1861. 
He  married  (third)  January  5,  1862, 
Rachel  E.  Muchler,  daughter  of  George 
and  Margaret  Muchler.  Stephen  R.  and 
Ellen  (Harding)  Wolf  had  children: 
Catherine,  Jessie,  and  Chester  B.  Wolf. 
Stephen  R.  and  his  third  wife,  Rachel  E. 
(Muchler)  Wolf,  were  the  parents  of  a 
daughter,  Margaret,  and  two  sons,  Ed- 
ward I.  and  Samuel  M.  Wolf. 

Such  were  the  antecendents  of  Dr. 
Samuel  M.  Wolf,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Penn- 
sylvania, one  of  the  prominent  physicians 
of  the  Wyoming  Valley,  a  true,  native 
son,  long  located  in  his  present  environ- 
ment. He  was  born  at  the  home  farm  at 
Muhlenburg,  Union  township,  Luzerne 
county,  Pennsylvania,  August  22,  1868. 
He  attended  the  district  school  until  ex- 
hausting their  advantages,  then  became 
a  student  at  Nanticoke  High  School, 
where  he  completed  the  courses.  He 
continued    his    father's    assistant   at    the 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


home  farm,  but  laid  his  plans  for  the 
future  broad  and  deep,  beginning  to  put 
them  into  execution  in  1891  by  matricu- 
lating at  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Phil- 
adelphia. There  he  pursued  a  three  years' 
course  and  was  awarded  the  degree  of 
M.  D.  with  the  graduating  class  of  May 
9,  1894.  The  balance  of  that  year  and  a 
greater  part  of  the  year  1895,  he  served  as 
interne  at  Jefferson  Medical  College  Hos- 
pital, Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  then  lo- 
cated in  Wilkes-Barre,  opening  his  first 
office  on  Academy  street,  there  remaining 
until  1915,  when  he  moved  to  his  present 
location  on  Franklin  street.  While  his  prac- 
tice was  general  for  several  years,  Dr. 
Wolf  now  specializes  in  general  surgery, 
and  has  won  wide  recognition  for  his  skill 
in  that  branch  of  his  profession.  He  was 
surgeon  to  Mercy  Hospital  from  its 
organization  until  1913;  was  surgeon  to 
Luzerne  County  Prison  for  four  years, 
but  the  demands  of  his  private  practice 
now  fully  employ  his  time.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Medical  Association, 
Pennsylvania  State  Medical  Society,  and 
Luzerne  County  Medical  Society.  He 
has  acquired  business  interests  in  the  city 
of  his  adoption,  particularly  in  real  estate 
lines,  and  is  deeply  interested  in  all  that 
pertains  to  the  welfare  of  the  city. 

Dr.  Wolf  married,  August  22,  1903, 
Bessie  Straw,  born  May  26,  1870,  daugh- 
ter of  Captain  Cyrus  and  Sarah  (Leach) 
Straw,  of  Wilkes-Barre.  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Wolf  are  the  parents  of  a  son  and  two 
daughters:  Sarah,  born  May  28,  1904; 
Samuel  M.,  born  February  8,  1906;  and 
Rachel,  born  March  3,  1909. 


LOOMIS,  William  Drake, 

Real  Estate  Operator. 

William  Drake  Loomis,  prominent  real 
estate  dealer,  public-spirited  citizen  and 
popular  man   of  Wilkes-Barre,    Pennsyl- 


vania, is  a  member  of  a  very  ancient  New 
England  family,  which  had  its  origin  in 
Essexshire,  England,  from  which  place 
the  name  was  brought  to  America  only 
eighteen  years  after  the  landing  of  the 
Pilgrim  fathers.  Mr.  Loomis  is  a  de- 
scendant of  one  Joseph  Loomis,  who  was 
a  woolen  draper  of  Braintree,  Essex- 
shire, and  who  sailed  for  the  New  Eng- 
land Colonies  on  April  11,  1638,  in  the 
good  ship  "Susan  &  Ellen."  On  July  17, 
1638,  he  arrived  in  Boston  and  we  find  it 
mentioned  in  the  records  of  Windsor, 
Connecticut,  that  he  purchased  a  piece  of 
land  in  that  town,  February  24,  1640. 

His  son,  Deacon  John  Loomis,  was  also 
born  in  England,  in  the  year  1622,  and 
came  to  this  country  undoubtedly  with 
his  father.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
church  at  Windsor,  October  11,  1640,  and 
was  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  that  town. 
He  was  married  to  Elizabeth  Scott,  a 
daughter  of  Thomas  Scott,  of  Hartford, 
in  which  town  they  were  married,  Febru- 
ary 3,  1649.  He  was  a  representative  to 
the  General  Court  of  Connecticut  in  1666- 
67-75-76-77,  and  was  deacon  of  the  Wind- 
sor church  for  many  years.  His  death 
occurred  September  1,  1688,  and  his  mon- 
ument is  still  standing  in  the  old  Wind- 
sor Burying  Grounds. 

Thomas  Loomis,  third  son  of  Deacon 
John  Loomis,  was  born  December  3, 
1653,  at  his  father's  home  at  Windsor, 
and  lived  there  during  his  entire  life. 
He  lived  a  comparatively  quiet  life,  and 
his  name  does  not  appear  with  any  very 
great  frequency  on  the  town  records.  He 
married  Sarah  White,  March  31,  1680, 
and  his  death  occurred  August  17,  1688, 
only  eight  years  later.  His  son,  Thomas 
Loomis,  who  is  known  as  Thomas 
Loomis,  of  Hatfield,  to  distinguish  him 
from  his  father,  who  is  called  Thomas 
Loomis,  of  Windsor,  was  the  second  son 
of  his  parents,  and  was  born  April   20, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


1684.  His  early  life  was  spent  in  his 
native  town  of  Windsor,  but  he  later 
removed  to  Hartford,  where  he  married 
January  8,  171 3,  Elizabeth  Fowler,  and 
died  April  20,  1765. 

Lieutenant  Thomas  Loomis,  of  Leb- 
anon, Connecticut,  was  the  only  child  of 
Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (Fowler)  Loomis, 
of  Hatfield,  where  he  was  born  in  the 
year  1714.  When  twenty  years  of  age,  in 
the  year  1734,  he  married  Susannah 
Clark,  and  his  death  occurred  at  Leb- 
anon, February  27,  1792.  Captain  Isaiah 
Loomis,  son  of  Lieutenant  Thomas  and 
Susannah  (Clark)  Loomis,  was  born  at 
Lebanon,  September  11,  1749.  He 
served  in  the  Continental  Army  during 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  died  in  his 
native  place,  November  20,  1834.  He 
married  Abigail  Williams,  by  whom  he 
had  a  family  of  children. 

Sherman  Loomis,  second  son  of  Cap- 
tain Isaiah  and  Abigail  (Williams) 
Loomis,  was  born  at  Lebanon,  Connecti- 
cut, May  27,  1787,  and  married,  Novem- 
ber 15,  1810,  Elizabeth  Champlin,  who 
was  a  sister  of  Commodore  William 
Champlin,  a  nephew  of  Commodore 
Perry,  and  was  with  Perry  at  the  battle  of 
Lake  Erie,  and  was  supposed  to  have  fired 
the  first  and  last  gun  on  Lake  Erie  in  the 
War  of  1812.  Mr.  Loomis  afterwards 
removed  to  Center  Moreland,  Wyoming 
county,  Pennsylvania,  the  date  of  his 
migration  to  this  place  being  the  year 
1816.  He  was  the  pioneer  of  the  family 
in  Pennsylvania  and  continued  to  live  in 
his  new  home  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  March  18,  1867. 

William  Wallace  Loomis,  third  son 
of  Sherman  and  Elizabeth  (Champlin) 
Loomis,  was  born  July  14,  1815,  at  Leb- 
anon, Connecticut.  When  only  one  year 
of  age  he  was  brought  by  his  parents  to 
Pennsylvania  and  there  grew  to  man- 
hood. At  the  age  of  twelve  he  came  to 
Wilkes-Barre,    Pennsylvania,    where    he 


resided  until  his  death,  save  for  a  short 
interval  of  three  years.  He  was  very 
prominent  in  the  affairs  of  this  commun- 
ity, was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church  there  from  1834  until  his 
death,  and  at  the  time  of  this  occurrence 
he  was  the  oldest  member  of  that  church. 
He  was  at  one  time  the  candidate  of  the 
Republican  party  for  the  office  of  county 
treasurer,  but  was  defeated  by  his  adver- 
sary, Edmund  Taylor,  the  Democratic 
candidate.  From  1854  to  1861,  inclusive, 
he  was  burgess  of  the  borough  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  and  from  1877  to  1880  was  mayor 
of  this  city.  For  many  years  he  held 
the  office  of  trustee  of  Wyoming  Semin- 
ary, and  was  greatly  interested  in  the 
cause  of  education.  He  was  a  charter 
member  of  the  Home  for  Friendless  Chil- 
dren ;  from  the  time  of  its  incorporation 
in  1862  he  was  a  trustee,  and  he  also  served 
this  institution  as  its  treasurer  for  about 
two  years.  William  Wallace  Loomis  was 
prominently  identified  with  the  Masonic 
Order,  and  was  a  member  and  the  treas- 
urer of  Lodge  No.  61,  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons,  of  Wilkes-Barre.  His  death 
occurred  August  2,  1894,  and  he  was 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  popular  and 
best  known  citizens  of  his  adopted  town 
in  his  day. 

William  Wallace  Loomis  married  (first), 
February  23,  1841,  Ellen  E.  Drake,  a 
daughter  of  Benjamin  Drake,  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  whose  death  occurred  June  25, 
1845.  They  were  the  parents  of  two  chil- 
dren :  Nancy,  who  died  in  infancy,  and 
William  Drake,  with  whose  career  we  are 
here  especially  concerned.  He  married 
(second)  Elizabeth  R.  Blanchard,  a 
daughter  of  Jeremiah  Blanchard,  and  they 
were  the  parents  of  Fannie  L.,  now 
widow  of  Colonel  S.  A.  Urquhart ;  Sher- 
man, who  died  in  infancy;  and  George 
Peck  Loomis.  He  married  (third)  La- 
vina  Wilcox,  no  issue. 

William  Drake  Loomis,  son  of  William 


43 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Wallace  and  Ellen  E.  (Drake)  Loomis, 
was  born  August  18,  1844,  at  Wilkes- 
Barre,  Pennsylvania.  He  has  made  his 
native  city  his  home  practically  ever 
since.  It  was  here  that  he  received  the 
elementary  portion  of  his  education, 
attending  for  this  purpose  the  local  pub- 
lic schools,  and  he  was  afterwards  sent 
to  the  Wyoming  Seminary  at  Kingston, 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  completed  his 
general  education.  Upon  leaving  this 
institution,  the  young  man  was  appointed 
in  the  United  States  Navy,  the  date  being 
September,  1864,  while  the  Civil  War  was 
still  waging.  He  was  appointed  paymas- 
ter steward  on  the  United  States  sloop, 
"Granite,"  one  of  the  small  vessels 
attached  to  the  North  Atlantic  block- 
ading squadron,  and  later  was  appointed 
captain's  clerk  on  the  United  States 
steamer,  "Mackinaw."  Here  he  remained 
until  he  received  his  honorable  discharge 
from  the  service  at  Newbern,  North  Caro- 
lina, early  in  the  summer  of  1865.  Being 
thus  released  from  service,  Mr.  Loomis 
at  once  returned  to  the  North  and  took 
up  his  home  at  Wilkes-Barre,  where  his 
peaceful  life  had  been  so  rudely  inter- 
rupted something  more  than  a  year  before 
by  the  alarms  of  war.  Here  he  engaged 
in  the  real  estate  business  and  has  con- 
tinued therein  for  nearly  half  a  century, 
and  is  now  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
substantial  citizens  there.  His  entire 
career  has  been  such  as  to  add  without 
intermission  to  his  reputation  for  honor 
and  integrity,  and  he  has  a  record  for 
square  dealing  second  to  none  in  the 
region.  He  is  still  very  actively  engaged 
in  this  line,  and  his  business  is  as  large 
as  ever.  Mr.  Loomis  is  a  conspicuous 
figure  in  many  other  aspects  of  the  life 
of  Wilkes-Barre,  and  is  prominently  iden- 
tified with  many  organizations  there,  fra- 
ternal and  otherwise.  He  keeps  his  mili- 
tary associations  won  in  the   Civil   War 


always  green  through  his  membership  in 
the  local  post  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  and  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Westmoreland  Club  and  of  the  Panther 
Creek  Club,  and  a  non-resident  member 
of  the  Hazleton  Country  Club. 

William  Drake  Loomis  was  united  in 
marriage,  February  4,  1868,  with  Frances 
Evelyn  Stewart,  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Elizabeth  (Williams)  Stewart,  old  and 
highly  respected  residents  of  Scranton, 
where  Mr.  Stewart  was  a  prominent  busi- 
ness man  for  many  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Loomis  are  the  parents  of  the  following 
children :  Bruce  E.,  a  graduate  of  Lehigh 
University,  and  now  a  resident  of  New 
York  City;  Ellen  E.,  deceased;  Ida,  who 
died  in  early  childhood  ;  and  Earl,  a  grad- 
uate of  Princeton  University,  and  now 
engaged  in  practice  as  a  Civil  Engineer 
at  Allentown,  Pennsylvania. 


KAUFMANN,  Isaac, 

Founder  of  a  Mighty  Business. 

Great  nations,  commonwealths,  munic- 
ipalities, are  the  creations  of  great  men. 
Some  renowned  for  their  statesmen,  phil- 
osophers, poets,  artists,  others  for  cap- 
tains of  industries,  financiers  and  mer- 
chants. All  are  thinkers,  dreamers,  build- 
ers, creators,  supplying  driving  energy  to 
the  world's  progress. 

Pittsburgh's  "Place  in  the  Sun"  is  pre- 
eminent. As  a  great  center  of  learning, 
industry  and  commerce,  the  whole  world 
has  made  a  path  to  her  door,  and  her 
great  men  number  among  the  world's 
greatest.  Conspicuous  in  the  mercantile 
history  of  Pittsburgh,  is  the  name  of 
Isaac  Kaufmann,  president  and  director 
of  the  Kaufmann  Department  Stores. 

Isaac  Kaufmann,  born  of  Abraham  and 
Sarah  (Wolf)  Kaufmann,  at  Viernheim, 
Hesse-Darmstadt,  Germany,  May  15, 
185 1.     There  he  lived  and  received  his 


44 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


education  until  his  sixteenth  year,  and 
in  May,  1869,  stirred  by  ambitions  and 
yearning  to  carve  his  career,  he  boldly 
sailed  for  the  "land  of  opportunity" 
across  the  seas,  locating  in  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania.  Here  for  several  years  in 
various  capacities,  he  prepared  himself 
for  his  future  career,  by  learning  the  lan- 
guage and  customs  of  his  adopted  land. 
In  March,  1871,  with  his  brother  Jacob 
as  his  partner,  Isaac  Kaufmann  opened  a 
little  clothing  furnishing  store  on  the 
South  Side  of  Pittsburgh,  which  was  at 
the  time  called  Birmingham.  Originally 
the  firm  was  known  as  J.  Kaufmann  & 
Bro.,  but  later  two  other  brothers,  Morris 
and  Henry,  became  partners,  and  the 
company  was  afterwards  identified  as 
Kaufmann  Brothers.  Jacob  Kaufmann 
died  November  1,  1905. 

Their  business  at  first  was  small,  but 
later,  in  obedience  to  good  storekeeping, 
assumed  such  dimensions  that  the  broth- 
ers were  compelled  to  seek  larger  quart- 
ers, and  forthwith  opened  a  second  store 
in  Allegheny  City,  now  North  Side,  Pitts- 
burgh. In  1878  the  constant  growth  of 
the  business  and  attendant  increase  of 
cares,  showed  to  the  Kaufmann  Brothers 
the  necessity  of  concentration,  and  they 
closed  their  branch  stores  and  opened  a 
store  on  the  present  site,  at  Smithfield 
and  Diamond  streets.  The  first  building 
at  this  address  was  123  by  120  feet;  then 
80  by  130  feet  was  secured  on  Fifth  ave- 
nue as  an  annex,  extending  to  Cherry 
Way.  Later  100  by  120  feet  was  ac- 
quired on  Smithfield  street,  until  in  1903 
the  company  secured  the  remainder  of  the 
block  on  Fifth  avenue.  It  was  in  this 
year  (1913)  that  the  firm  became  incor- 
porated and  known  as  "Kaufmann  De- 
partment Stores,  Incorporated,"  which  is 
the  title  at  this  writing.  Co-incident  with 
this  change,  Isaac  Kaufmann  was  elected 
president  of  the  business.     Following  the 


acquisition  of  this  additional  property, 
the  entire  building  of  the  firm  was  remod- 
eled to  the  height  of  twelve  floors,  with 
basement  and  sub-basement,  giving  them 
one  of  the  most  admired  stores  in 
Pennsylvania,  floor  space  of  over  700,000 
feet.  In  interesting  contrast  to  the  mod- 
est little  store  of  the  South  Side,  this 
business  is  now  among  the  foremost  of 
its  kind  in  the  world,  its  employees  num- 
bering in  the  thousands,  its  customers  in 
tens  of  thousands,  and  doing  a  yearly 
business  reaching  into  the  millions. 

The  mutations  of  time  have  caused 
many  changes  in  this  wonderful  enter- 
prise, but  throughout  the  two  score  and 
more  years,  the  same  firm  guiding  hand 
has  been  at  the  helm,  that  of  Isaac  Kauf- 
mann, as  democratic  and  approachable  as 
the  day  he  commenced  his  career,  con- 
tinues to  direct  the  destinies  of  the  busi- 
ness. In  1915,  when  the  store  celebrated 
its  forty-fourth  anniversary,  Mr.  Kauf- 
mann caused  to  be  published  in  the  Pitts- 
burgh papers  the  following  open  letter  to 
the  people  of  the  city,  and  as  it  breathes 
the  ideals  and  aims  of  the  man,  we  here- 
with use  most  of  it : 

Forty- four  years  ago  (I  wonder  how  many  of 
you  can  look  back  that  far  and  remember  our 
little  store  and  its  few  counters  of  goods  out 
there  on  the  South  Side)  my  brother  and  I 
founded  this  firm.  Between  us  we  had  $1,500  in 
cash,  but  we  were  millionaires  in  hope  and  confi- 
dence^— filled  with  boyish  faith  in  ourselves  and 
the  young  city  which  had  begun  to  stir  with  vast 
ambitions — pitting  its  youth  and  energy  against 
the  coming  years.  And  we  had  one  thing  else, 
an  asset  that  grew  as  we  went — this  piece  of  ad- 
vice from  the  good  father  who  sacrificed  his  own 
happiness  to  send  his  sons  into  a  strange  land 
which  would  give  us  opportunities  that  our  birth- 
place could  not  promise : 

Sell  to  others  as  you  would  buy  for  yourself. 

Good  merchants  make  small  profits  and  many 
sales. 

Deal  fairly — be  patient,  and  in  time  your  dis- 
honest competitors  will  crowd  your  store  with 
customers. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


It  is  a  long  time  since  these  words  were  spoken. 
Meanwhile,  the  world  has  improved  almost  every- 
thing it  holds,  but  I  don't  believe  that  a  better 
piece  of  wisdom  has  been  offered  to  a  young  man 
starting  out  on  his  career — the  walls  of  this  great 
store  of  ours  rest  upon  that  foundation.  And  I, 
in  turn,  pass  it  to  the  coming  business  men  of 
America — the  generation  which  is  replacing  mine. 
One  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  and  an  axiom 
may  not  appeal  to  some  of  you  as  sufficient  capi- 
tal, but  I  would  not  fear  to  begin  anew,  even  in 
this  period  of  gigantic  enterprises,  with  as  little. 
Integrity  and  determination,  harnessed  to  a  fixed 
idea,  will  accomplish  as  much  to-morrow  as  it 
brought  about  yesterday.  And  this  store  will  last 
only  as  long  as  it  continues  to  be  fair  and  square. 
No  success  can  survive  carelessness  and  dishon- 
esty. 

I  have  drilled  into  our  organization  that  Kauf- 
mann's  won't  enjoy  the  confidence  of  its  cus- 
tomers longer  than  we  merit  it.  I  know.  I 
nursed  this  business  from  its  precarious  begin- 
ning up  to  the  present  moment ;  for  many  years 
underwent  struggle  and  self-denial  (buying  and 
selling  so  closely  that  we  barely  made  a  living) 
to  establish  a  reputation  honorable.  Forty-four 
years  ago — how  I  recall  that  stern  and  poverty- 
stricken  period — we  couldn't  have  picked  out  a 
worse  stretch  of  years.  The  average  family  could 
afford  but  the  barest  necessities  of  life.  A  dollar 
was  a  big  piece  of  silver — sufficient  to  feed  and 
clothe  and  house  a  man  and  a  wife  and  children. 
We  were  living  in  a  frontier  period.  The  conti- 
nent was  still  in  the  making.  A  few  miles  away 
were  entire  villages  of  whose  inhabitants  not  one 
had  ever  been  on  a  railroad  or  seen  the  sea.  A 
horse  car  was  a  novelty.  Travel  by  power  was 
confined  to  queer,  little,  rickety,  slow  steam  rail- 
roads. Gaslight  was  a  marvel,  and  kerosene 
(actually  sold  as  patent  medicine,  to  cure  the 
most  ridiculous  range  of  ills)  was  being  experi- 
mented with  for  household  illumination.  But 
most  of  us  were  afraid  to  bring  the  "dangerous" 
stuff  into  our  homes.  There  was  not  an  electric 
motor  on  earth  nor  typewriter  nor  a  talking 
machine.  Bell  hadn't  built  a  telephone,  and  we 
used  to  tap  our  heads  when  we  heard  anybody 
talk  about  flying  machines.  The  great  mills  which 
have  brought  prosperity  and  world-fame  to  Penn- 
sylvania, were  hardly  bigger  than  overgrown 
blacksmith  shops,  and  most  of  the  founders 
worked  at  their  own  forges.  So  you  can  imagine 
what  sort  of  a  place  Kaufmann's  was  in  1871. 

How  ridiculous  I  would  have  considered  the 
idea  that  the  day  would  come  when  we  would 
have   four   thousand   employees,   and   a   store   in 


which  you  could  buy  anything  from  a  paper  of 
pins  to  a  diamond  necklace — from  a  necktie  to  the 
complete  furnishing  of  any  kind  of  home — that 
we  would  spend  as  much  in  a  single  day  for 
newspaper  advertisement  as  the  sum  total  of  our 
capital.  Why  I  could  have  stuck  the  whole  shop 
— lock,  stock  and  barrel — into  my  present  office 
and  used  the  remaining  space  for  a  bedroom. 

I  was  the  head  of  the  firm  and  the  bookkeeper, 
salesman  and  shipping  clerk,  bundle  wrapper  and 
(occasionally)  the  delivery  system.  And  I  am 
not  ashamed  to  acknowledge  that  I  put  up  the 
shutters  and  swept  the  floors.  We  kept  ready- 
made  clothes,  hats  and  men's  furnishings;  did 
merchant  tailoring.  And  out  of  that  grew  this 
business. 

As  the  years  pass  our  sons  must  gradually  take 
our  place.  We  are  growing  old.  The  responsi- 
bility for  the  future  will  rest  more  and  more 
upon  their  shoulders.  We  have  taught  them  to 
be  good  merchants — to  deal  fairly  and  honorably, 
to  remember  that  the  forty-four  best  years  of 
their  parents'  lives  are  standing  twelve  stories 
high  at  Fifth  and  Smithfield  streets. 

Pittsburgh  has  been  kind  to  us,  has  loyally  and 
generously  supported  our  enterprises,  and  the 
greatest  wish  of  my  life  is  that  from  our  work 
will  rise  and  endure,"  not  only  the  first  establish- 
ment of  this  community,  but  of  the  world.  And 
if  it  may  not  be  the  greatest — at  least,  let  it  be 
the  most  worthy. 

Intensely  public-spirited,  this  man  of 
tireless  industry  finds  time  in  the  midst 
of  incessant  business  activity  to  give 
loyal  support  to  all  measures  which  he 
deems  conducive  to  the  progress  and 
wellbeing  of  Pittsburgh.  He  adheres  to 
the  Republican  party,  but  has  no  inclina- 
tion for  officeholding,  preferring  to  give 
his  undivided  attention  to  the  great  busi- 
ness enterprise  of  which  he  is  head.  A 
liberal  giver  to  charity,  he  shuns  in  this 
phase  of  his  activity  everything  approach- 
ing publicity.  He  and  his  brother,  Mor- 
ris Kaufmann,  organized  the  Emma 
Farm,  one  of  the  well-known  philan- 
thropic institutions  of  Pittsburgh.  Mr. 
Kaufmann  is  a  member  of  the  Westmore- 
land Country  and  Concordia  clubs.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  Rodef  Shalom  Congre- 
gation. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


The  personality  of  Isaac  Kaufmann  is 
that  of  a  man  exceptionally  forceful  and 
aggressive,  with  cool,  calculating,  well- 
balanced  judgment.  It  is  to  this  combi- 
nation of  qualities  that  he  owes  his  power 
to  make  great  ventures  with  safety  and 
success,  and  to  the  union  of  determina- 
tion with  tactfulness  may  be  traced  his 
ability  to  win  the  friendship  and  esteem  of 
men.  Of  medium  height  and  command- 
ing appearance,  his  strong  yet  sensitive 
features,  accentuated  by  white  hair  and 
mustache,  and  his  whole  aspect  expres- 
sive of  decision  coupled  with  generous 
impulses  and  a  genial  disposition,  he  is 
a  fine  type  of  the  true  Pittsburgh  business 
man. 

Mr.  Kaufmann  married  (first)  in  Ger- 
many, August  9,  1877,  Emma,  daughter 
of  Nathan  and  Jeanette  (Lehman)  Kauf- 
mann, and  they  were  the  parents  of 
a  daughter,  Lillian  S.,  wife  of  Edgar 
J.  Kaufmann,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  the 
mother  of  a  son,  Edgar  J.,  Jr.,  born  April 
9,  1910.  The  death  of  Mrs.  Emma  Kauf- 
mann occurred  June  12,  1894,  and  Mr. 
Kaufmann  married  (second)  March  22, 
1899,  Belle  C,  daughter  of  Jonas  and 
Josephine  (Speyer)  Meyer,  of  Quincy, 
Illinois.  Mr.  Kaufmann  is  a  man  of 
decided  domestic  tastes,  and  the  Kauf- 
mann home  in  the  East  End  is  the  seat  of 
a  gracious  hospitality. 

Mr.  Kaufmann's  portrait  precedes  this 
biography.  To  the  biography  of  this 
broad-minded  public-spirited  man  of  ac- 
tion, one  might  fittingly  append  those 
lines  of  Addison's : 

"lis  not  in  mortals  to  command  success. 

But  we'll  do  more,  Sempronius — we'll  deserve  it. 


BALL,  David  Ithiel, 

Lawyer,  Public  Official. 

The  distinctive   prestige   Mr.   Ball  has 
gained  as  an  eminent  lawyer  is  the  result 


of  over  forty  years'  close  application  to 
his  profession  as  a  member  of  the  War- 
ren county  bar,  in  practice  in  all  State 
and  Federal  courts  of  the  district.  In 
the  many  notable  cases  in  which  he  has 
appeared  as  counsel,  he  has  demonstrated 
a  deep  knowledge  of  the  law,  an  expert- 
ness  in  handling  and  presenting  his 
cases,  a  painstaking  manner  of  prepara- 
tion, an  honesty  of  purpose  and  a  fair- 
ness which  have  won  him  the  highest 
respect  of  the  bench  and  bar.  His  clien- 
tele is  a  large  and  influential  one,  and  in 
professional  standing  no  member  of  the 
Warren  bar  outranks  him.  As  a  citizen 
he  has  received  the  continuous  support  of 
his  fellowmen  for  every  office  to  which  he 
has  aspired,  has  rendered  borough  and 
county  most  efficient  service;  and  in 
1897,  nad  Governor  Hastings  heeded  the 
strong  personal  letters  and  petitions 
showered  upon  him,  Mr.  Ball  would  have 
received  the  appointment  to  fill  a  vacancy 
then  existing  upon  the  bench  of  the  Su- 
perior Court  of  the  State. 

He  is  a  son  of  Abel  and  Lucy  Maria 
(Northrop)  Ball,  and  a  grandson  of 
Moses  and  Persilla  (Ball)  Ball,  Moses 
Ball  of  Connecticut  birth,  but  a  resident 
of  New  York  State.  Abel  Ball  was  born 
in  1800,  and  died  October  19,  1853.  He 
resided  in  New  York  until  about  1821, 
then  settled  in  Warren,  Pennsylvania, 
but  later  moved  to  a  farm  in  Farmington 
township,  Warren  county,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  agriculture  until  six  years 
prior  to  his  death,  when  he  was  stricken 
with  an  illness  which  confined  him  to  his 
bed  during  those  last  years  of  his  life. 
He  married  Lucy  Maria  Northrop,  born 
June  14,  1808  died  December  26,  1897, 
daughter  of  Gideon  and  Esther  (Munson) 
Northop,  he  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution. 
Mrs.  Ball  survived  her  husband,  and 
alone  reared  her  children,  who  were 
young  at  the  time  of  their  father's  death. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


This  trust  she  faithfully  performed  with 
a  true  mother's  patience  and  devotion. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ball  were  the  parents  of: 
David  Ithiel  Ball,  of  further  mention ; 
Fanny  Rosilla,  born  May  30,  1846,  died 
July  15,  1905 ;  Munson  Monroe,  born 
August  26,  1847,  died  August  13,  1874. 
By  a  former  marriage  Mrs.  Ball  had  a 
daughter,  Mary  Sophia,  who  married 
James  Cooper,  and  died  June  19,  1902, 
aged  seventy-five  years. 

David  Ithiel  Ball  was  born  in  Farm- 
ington  township,  Warren  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, June  13,  1844,  and  there 
absorbed  all  the  advantages  offered  by 
the  local  schools.  He  then  attended 
Jamestown  (New  York)  Union  School 
for  a  time,  and  later  was  graduated  from 
Jamestown  Collegiate  Institute.  Follow- 
ing graduation  he  taught  for  several 
terms  in  Warren  county  schools,  but  hav- 
ing decided  upon  his  life  work,  began  the 
study  of  law  under  the  preceptorship  of 
Judge  Brown,  of  the  Warren  county  bar. 
In  1875  he  passed  the  required  tests  of 
the  examining  board  and  was  duly  admit- 
ted to  the  bar  of  his  native  county.  He 
was  at  once  admitted  a  partner  with 
Judge  Brown,  and  as  Brown  &  Ball  they 
practiced  in  Warren  until  the  elevation 
of  the  senior  partner  to  the  bench.  Mr. 
Ball  then  formed  a  partnership  with  C. 
C.  Thompson,  which  association  con- 
tinued several  years. 

In  proof  of  the  importance  of  the  prac- 
tice Mr.  Ball  has  conducted,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  cite  the  fact  that  his  name  is 
associated  as  counsel  with  nearly  one 
hundred  and  fifty  cases  in  the  Supreme 
and  Superior  courts  of  the  State,  some  of 
them  among  the  most  celebrated  in  the 
legal  annals  of  the  State.  Among  them 
are  the  Ford  and  Lacy  cases,  involving 
valuable  lands,  which  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  the  court  for  two  years;  the  con- 
spiracy   case,    The    Commonwealth    vs. 


Ralph,  Tolles  et  al.,  involving  the  title 
to  oil  lands ;  Babcock  vs.  Day,  and  the 
Borough  of  Warren  vs.  Geer.  For  many 
years  he  was  an  administrator  of  the 
estate  of  L.  A.  Robertson,  his  bond  being 
$600,000.  Through  his  professional  and 
business  life  he  has  stood  for  that  which 
was  good  and  true,  his  character  as  a 
man  of  sterling  uprightness  equalling  his 
high  standing  as  a  lawyer.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  various  bar  associations, 
county,  State  and  national,  and  to  other 
professional  societies. 

In  July,  1862,  Mr.  Ball  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany C,  Independent  Pennsylvania  In- 
fantry, and  later  served  in  Battery  H, 
Independent  Pennsylvania  Artillery,  serv- 
ing with  the  latter  in  Virginia  during  the 
threatening  period  when  Washington  was 
menaced  by  the  Confederates.  He  is  a 
member  of  Eben  N.  Ford  Post,  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  an  organization 
in  which  he  takes  a  deep  interest.  In  pol- 
itics a  Republican,  Mr.  Ball  has  ever 
taken  active  part  in  campaign  work,  is  a 
popular  platform  orator,  and  in  party 
councils  his  is  a  potent  voice.  In  1871  he 
was  elected  treasurer  of  Warren  county, 
serving  one  term ;  from  1893  until  1902 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Warren  board 
of  education,  serving  as  president  of  the 
board  during  six  of  those  years.  He  was 
chairman  of  the  building  committee  in 
charge  of  the  erection  of  the  high  school 
building,  and  served  in  the  same  capacity 
during  the  erection  of  two  of  the  grade 
buildings.  In  1897  he  was  strongly 
urged  for  appointment  to  the  Superior 
Court  bench,  but  stronger  influences  were 
brought  to  bear  upon  Governor  Hastings, 
and  the  vacancy  then  existing  was  filled 
by  another.  When  the  Progressive  move- 
ment culminated  in  1912  in  the  nomina- 
tion of  Theodore  Roosevelt  for  the  Presi- 
dency, Mr.  Ball  joined  heartily  in  the 
movement,  and  although  he  had  been  pre- 


48 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


viously  nominated  for  presidential  elec- 
tor by  the  State  Republican  Convention, 
he  withdrew  his  name  and  accepted  the 
same  nomination  from  the  Progressive 
party.  In  the  campaign  which  followed 
he  rendered  valuable  service,  and  was 
one  of  the  contributing  causes  which  car- 
ried Pennsylvania  for  the  National  Pro- 
gressive candidates,  Roosevelt  and  John- 
son. In  religious  faith  he  is  a  Presbyter- 
ian, served  for  a  time  as  president  of  the 
board  of  trustees,  and  has  long  been  an 
elder. 

Mr.  Ball  married,  in  1871,  Lucy  Ma- 
tilda Robinson,  daughter  of  Elijah  and 
Caroline  (Northrop)  Robinson,  of  Farm- 
ington  township.  Mrs.  Ball  is  an  earn- 
est, efficient  worker  for  the  cause  of  relig- 
ion and  charity,  a  devoted  member  of  the 
Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union, 
and  the  Society  of  Christian  Workers, 
through  whose  efforts  the  Home  for  the 
Friendless  (now  the  Warren  Emergency 
Hospital),  managed  entirely  by  a  board 
of  woman  directors.  The  hospital  was 
incorporated  March  25,  1898,  Mrs.  Ball, 
a  charter  member,  being  elected  to  serve 
on  the  first  board  of  directors,  an  office 
she  held  for  twelve  years,  until  her  resig- 
nation in  December,  1910. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ball  are  the  parents  of  a 
daughter  May,  who  married,  June  24, 
1909,  Dr.  William  Charles  DeForest,  and 
has  children :  David  Ball,  Lucy  Ball, 
Charles  A.  L.,  and  William  George  De- 
Forest. 


McCLINTOCK,  Andrew  H., 

Lawyer,  Enterprising  Citizen, 

Among  the  learned  professions  gener- 
ally, and  especially  that  of  the  law,  there 
has  grown  up  a  great  body  of  tradition, 
an  atmosphere,  it  might  be  said,  the  inten- 
sity and  mass  of  which  it  is  very  difficult 
to   imagine   for   those    who    have    never 

P»-10— 4 


entered  it.  The  law  is  the  heir  of  many 
ages,  not  merely  in  its  substance,  its 
proper  matter,  but  in  a  myriad  connota- 
tions and  associations  involving  all  thos~e\ 
great  figures  who  have  names  to  conjure; 
with  and  all  the  great  mass  of  its  votaries, 
who  from  time  immemorial  have  dealt] 
with  and  in  it,  also  the  great  men  who 
have  made  and  adapted  it,  the  learned 
who  have  interpreted  and  practiced  it,  the 
multitude  who  have  been  protected  and 
also,  alas,  victimized  by  it.  From  each 
and  all  it  has  gained  its  wisdom  or  wit, 
its  eloquence  or  its  tale  of  human  feeling 
which  may  serve  to  point  a  moral,  until, 
by  a  sort  of  process  of  natural  selection, 
there  has  arisen  a  sort  of  system  of  ideals^ 
and  standards,  lofty  in  themselves  and  a\ 
spur  to  the  high-minded,  a  check  to  the 
unscrupulous,  which  none  may  safely  dis- 
regard. The  bench  and  bar  in  America 
may  certainly  point  with  pride  to  the 
manner  in  which  their  members  have 
maintained  the  splendid  traditions  of  the 
profession,  yes,  and  added  their  own,  no 
inconsiderable  quota  to  the  ideals  of  a 
future  time.  The  McClintock  family  of 
Pennsylvania  has  now  for  two  genera- 
tions contributed  to  the  bar  of  that  State 
members  who  have  been  representative 
of  these  best  traditions  and  who,  through 
long  careers  of  successful  practice,  have 
maintained  and  given  emphasis  to  the 
highest  standards  and  ideals  of  the  law. 

The  McClintock  family  is  an  old  and 
honored  one  in  Pennsylvania,  and  traces 
its  descent  to  one  James  McClintock  and 
his  wife,  Jean  (Payne)  McClintock,  of 
the  little  town  of  Raphoe,  County  Done- 
gal, Ireland.  But  though  the  progenitor 
of  the  family  in  America  lived  in  Ireland, 
the  line  did  not  originate  there,  the  ances- 
tors of  James  McClintock  having  dwelt 
originally  in  Argylshire,  Scotland,  from 
which  place  three  sons  of  Gilbert  Mc- 
Clintock emigrated  and  settled  near  Lon- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


donderry,  Ireland,  from  one  of  whom 
James  McClintock  was  descended.  This 
James  McClintock  had  in  turn  a  son, 
Samuel  McClintock,  who  emigrated  from 
Ireland  to  America  in  the  year  1795,  and 
settled  in  Northumberland  county,  Penn- 
sylvania. He  was  the  first  of  the  name  to 
make  his  home  in  this  State,  but  later 
his  father  followed  him  here  and  settled 
in  Lycoming  county.  Samuel  McClintock 
died  in  the  year  1812,  when  only  thirty- 
six  years  of  age.  Pie  married,  July  15, 
1806,  Hannah  Todd,  a  daughter  of  Col- 
onel Andrew  Todd,  one  of  the  early  fami- 
lies in  this  State,  Colonel  Todd  having 
been  born  in  the  town  of  Providence  here 
in  1752.  He  married  Hannah  Bowyer, 
also  a  native  of  Providence,  born  in  the 
same  year.  They  resided  during  their 
entire  lives  in  this  town,  and  died  May  5, 
1833,  and  May  28,  1836,  respectively. 
Hannah  Bowyer  was  a  daughter  of  Ste- 
phen and  Elizabeth  (Edwards)  Bowyer, 
her  father  having  been  a  farmer  near  the 
Providence  church.  Colonel  Andrew 
Todd  was  an  extensive  land  owner  in 
the  region  of  Trappe,  Upper  Providence 
township,  Montgomery  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  was,  according  to  tradition, 
something  of  an  inventive  genius  and 
very  skillful  in  all  sorts  of  mechanical 
handicrafts.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
old  Providence  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  Army.  He 
held  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  for 
thirty-three  years,  having  been  elected 
thereto,  May  22,  1800,  and  only  ceasing 
to  hold  it  at  the  time  of  his  death.  His 
father,  Robert  Todd,  was,  like  the  pro- 
genitor of  the  McClintock  family,  a  native 
of  Ireland,  where  he  was  born  in  the  year 
1697.  He  emigrated  to  this  country  with 
his  wife,  who  had  been  Isabella  Bodley. 
of  County  Down,  Ireland,  where  she  was 
born  in  1700.  Robert  Todd's  dearth 
occurred   in    1790,   at   the   age   of  ninety- 


three  years,  and  he  and  his  wife  were  the 
parents  of  nine  children  of  whom  Col- 
onel Andrew  Todd  was  the  youngest. 
The  grandfather  of  Colonel  Todd  was 
John  Todd,  and  this  was  also  the  name  of 
his  great-grandfather,  both  of  whom  lived 
and  died  in  Ireland.  Hannah  Todd,  the 
daughter  of  Colonel  Andrew  Todd,  mar- 
ried Samuel  McClintock,  July  15,  1806, 
as  is  stated  above,  and  among  their  chil- 
dren was  Andrew  Todd  McClintock,  one 
of  the  eminent  attorneys  of  the  State  in 
his  day. 

Andrew  Todd  McClintock,  LL.  D.,  son 
of  Samuel  and  Hannah  (Todd)  McClin- 
tock, was  born  February  2,  1810,  at  his 
father's  home  in  Northumberland  county, 
Pennsylvania.  He  was  but  two  years  old 
when  his  father  died,  but  his  mother  was 
determined  that  he  should  receive  the 
best  possible  educational  advantages,  and 
as  a  child  sent  him  to  the  local  public 
schools.  He  was  prepared  for  college 
here  and  upon  graduation  from  high 
school  matriculated  at  Kenyon  College, 
Ohio.  Here  he  soon  became  a  prominent 
member  of  his  class  in  which  were  a  num- 
ber of  young  men  destined  later  to  make 
distinguished  names  for  themselves  in 
various  departments  of  the  country's  life. 
Among  these  the  best  known  was  Edwin 
M.  Stanton,  the  famous  Secretary  of 
War  under  President  Lincoln,  and  there 
was  also  future  Judge  Frank  Hurd,  one 
of  the  most  conspicuous  figures  in  Ohio 
politics  on  the  Democratic  side,  and  there 
also  was  Rufus  King,  the  celebrated  edu- 
cator, who  became  dean  of  the  law  school 
in  Cincinnati.  In  these  distinctly  stimu- 
lating surroundings,  young  Mr.  McClin- 
tock remained  for  three  years,  making  a 
reputation  for  himself  as  a  brilliant  and 
intelligent  student,  and  at  the  end  of  this 
period  returned  to  his  native  Northum- 
berland county,  having  determined  in  the 
meanwhile  to  make  law  his  profession  in 


50 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


life.  Accordingly  he  entered  the  office  of 
James  Hepburn,  but  about  a  year  later 
removed  to  Wilkes-Barre  and  completed 
his  studies  under  the  preceptorship  of  the 
elder  Judge  Woodward,  an  eminent  attor- 
ney of  this  city.  On  August  8,  1836,  Mr. 
McClintock  was  admitted  to  the  practice 
of  his  profession  at  the  bar  of  Luzerne 
county,  and  at  once  became  a  partner  of 
his  former  tutor,  the  firm  becoming 
Woodward  &  McClintock.  This  partner- 
ship continued  until  the  year  1839,  by 
which  time  Mr.  McClintock  had  already 
won  a  brilliant  reputation  for  himself  as 
may  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  he  was 
appointed  district  attorney  for  Luzerne 
county.  In  this  responsible  post  he  added 
to  his  reputation  and  discharged  the 
duties  of  his  office  in  a  manner  to  meet 
the  entire  approval  of  his  constituents  in 
the  community-at-large.  However,  at 
the  end  of  one  year,  he  resigned  his  post 
and  returned  once  more  to  regular  prac- 
tice. It  is  interesting  to  note  here,  as  illus- 
trating Mr.  McClintock's  disinterested 
devotion  to  his  profession,  that  this  was 
the  only  public  office  ever  held  by  him, 
for  although  he  was  frequently  urged  to 
become  a  candidate  for  other  honorable 
posts,  he  consistently  refused  and  he 
even  declined  the  candidacy  for  the  judg- 
ship  of  the  Luzerne  county  Court  of 
Common  Pleas.  His  friends  and  associ- 
ates united  in  urging  upon  him  this  nom- 
ination, feeling  that  no  man  was  better 
fitted  to  exercise  the  judicial  capacity,  but 
his  shrinking  from  public  notice  and  his 
interest  in  his  active  practice  as  an  attor- 
ney, combined  to  make  Mr.  McClintock 
firm  in  his  refusal,  although  he  showed 
evidently  how  pleased  he  was  at  the  con- 
fidence reposed  in  him.  In  the  year  1873, 
however,  he  accepted  the  appointment  of 
Governor  Hartranft  to  a  membership  of 
the  commission  charged  with  the  revi- 
sion of  the  State  Constitution,  and  in  this 


work  was  the  colleague  of  such  men  as 
Chief  Justice  Agnew,  Benjamin  Harris 
Brewster,  Attorney-General  Samuel  E. 
Dinnick,  United  States  Senator  Wallace, 
Senator  Playford,  Henry  W.  Williams, 
and  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Pennsylvania,  who  were  all  his  fellow 
commissioners  and  eminent  jurists,  every 
one.  Mr.  McClintock,  while  his  practice 
was  a  general  one,  specialized  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  in  corporation  law,  being 
most  deeply  versed  in  this  branch  of  his 
science  and  the  counsel  for  many  well 
known  corporations, 

Andrew  Todd  McClintock  was  a  man 
of  the  greatest  public  spirit,  and  was 
always  ready  to  perform  whatever  service 
he  could  for  the  community.  He  was  a 
leader  in  many  movements  which  had 
the  welfare  of  the  city  as  their  end,  and 
was  also  affiliated  with  a  number  of  its 
most  prominent  institutions,  especially 
those  which  were  concerned  with  various 
civic  purposes  and  philanthropic  objects. 
He  was  a  director  of  the  Wyoming  Na- 
tional Bank,  of  the  City  Hospital  and  the 
Home  for  Friendless  Children  ;  president 
of  the  Hollenback  Cemetery  Associa- 
tion and  of  the  Wilkes-Barre  Law  and 
Library  Association.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geologi- 
cal Society,  serving  as  vice-president  of 
this  organization  from  i860  to  1875,  and 
president  in  1876  and  1889-91.  The  hon- 
orary degree  of  LL.  D.  was  conferred 
upon  him  in   1870  by  Princeton  College. 

His  life  work  and  the  commanding  position  he 
attained  at  the  bar  and  in  the  community  where 
he  lived,  signify  more  plainly  than  words  the 
measure  of  his  abilities  and  the  nobleness  of  his 
character.  In  stature  he  was  tall,  of  massive 
frame  and  endowed  with  great  strength  and  en- 
durance, dignified  in  bearing,  yet  gentle,  genial 
and  sincere  in  temperament ;  the  grace  of  his 
presence  and  the  charm  of  his  manner  impressed 
everyone  who  came  within  the  range  of  their  in- 
fluence 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Andrew  Todd  McClintock  was  united 
in  marriage,  May  n,  1841,  with  Augusta 
Cist,  a  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Sarah  (Hol- 
lenback)  Cist,  and  a  native  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  born  in  the  year  1817,  and  died 
September  24,  1895.  Her  family  was 
very  prominent  during  the  early  life  of 
the  city,  and  took  an  active  part  in  its 
growth  and  development.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
McClintock  were  the  parents  of  four  chil- 
dren, as  follows :  Helen  Grinnan,  born 
January  19,  1846,  at  Wilkes-Barre,  died 
January  14,  1894;  Alice  Mary,  born  Jan- 
uary 31,  1848,  died  October  12,  1900, 
became  the  wife  of  John  Vaughan  Darling ; 
Andrew  Hamilton,  mentioned  below;  and 
Jean  Hamilton,  born  February  22,  1855, 
died  April  15,  1891. 

Physically,  a  man  of  noble  proportions, 
the  gift  of  both  paternal  and  maternal 
forebears,  mentally  highly  endowed,  with 
a  heart  that  quickly  responded  to  every 
appeal,  Andrew  Todd  McClintock  was  a 
giant  among  men.  He  would  have  won 
eminence  in  any  field  of  labor,  but  he 
chose  the  law,  a  most  confining  profes- 
sion and  one  which  would  seem  to  be  ill- 
fitted  to  his  physical  characteristics 
which  would  appear  to  have  been  more 
at  home  in  an  active  out-door  environ- 
ment. His  mind,  however,  was  particu- 
larly well  qualified  for  his  chosen  sub- 
ject, and  he  was  deeply  learned  in  the 
principles  of  common  law.  As  an  advo- 
cate he  was  especially  strong  and  almost 
appeared  to  have  an  intuitive  knowledge 
of  the  mental  processes  of  those  whom  he 
addressed,  a  quality  which  made  him  ex- 
tremely effective  before  a  jury.  Wit, 
humor  and  pathos  abounded  in  his 
speech,  but  he  never  descended  to  play 
upon  the  emotions  to  accomplish  his  end, 
but  always  had  a  background  of  keen 
and  trenchant  reason  to  support  his  every 
plea.  He  was  most  genial,  open-handed 
and  friendly,  and  his  life  was  truly  a  suc- 


cession of  good  deeds,  and  the  number  of 
his  friends  was  legion. 

Andrew  Hamilton  McClintock,  only 
son  of  Andrew  Todd  and  Augusta  (Cist) 
McClintock,  was  born  December  12,  1852, 
at  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania,  and  has 
made  this  city  his  home  and  the  scene 
of  his  active  professional  career  ever  since. 
The  elementary  portion  of  his  education 
was  received  at  the  local  schools,  and 
later  he  entered  Princeton  College,  and 
graduated  from  this  institution  with  the 
class  of  1872,  when  only  nineteen  years 
of  age,  taking  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts.  In  1875  tne  honorary  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  was  conferred  upon  him 
by  his  alma  mater.  It  was  very  natural 
that,  brought  up  as  he  was  in  his  father's 
household,  where  he  came  in  contact  con- 
tinually with  legal  tradition  and  atmos- 
phere, that  he  should  have  selected  the 
law  as  his  profession,  and  accordingly  he 
began  the  study  of  this  subject  in  his 
father's  office  and  also  under  the  precep- 
torship  of  Edward  P.  and  J.  Vaughan 
Darling,  the  latter  his  brother-in-law.  He 
pursued  his  studies  to  such  good  purpose 
that  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Lu- 
zerne county,  January  20,  1876,  and  at 
once  began  his  professional  career  in  asso- 
ciation with  his  father.  As  time  went  on 
and  young  Mr.  McClintock  proved  his 
eminent  capacity  to  handle  whatever 
legal  matters  were  entrusted  to  him,  Mr. 
McClintock,  Sr.,  gradually  withdrew 
more  and  more  from  active  life  and  left 
it  to  his  son  to  manage  the  great  legal 
practice  which  he  had  built  up.  His  large 
clientele,  including  many  of  the  wealthi- 
est corporations  of  the  region,  remained 
faithful  to  him  and  the  great  legal  busi- 
ness has  rather  increased  than  diminished 
with  the  course  of  time.  Like  his  father, 
Mr.  McClintock  was  quite  unambitious 
for  political  preferment,  and  like  him  also 
he  was  a  staunch  member  of  the  Demo- 


52 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


cratic  party.  Outside  of  the  limits  of 
his  profession  he  has  affiliated  himself 
with  many  of  the  largest  and  most  im- 
portant institutions  in  the  city,  and  may 
be  considered  a  leader  in  most  of  the 
departments  of  the  community's  life.  He 
is  president  of  the  Wyoming  National 
Bank  of  Wilkes-Barre,  a  director  of  the 
Lehigh  &  Wilkes-Barre  Coal  Company, 
the  Lehigh  &  Luzerne  Coal  Company, 
the  Honey  Brook  Water  Company,  the 
Hollenback  Cemetery  Association,  the 
Miners'  Savings  Bank  of  Wilkes-Barre, 
a  trustee  and  director  of  the  Home  for 
Friendless  Children,  and  a  trustee  of  the 
Osterhout  Free  Library  of  Wilkes-Barre. 
Mr.  McClintock  is  a  conspicuous  figure  in 
the  club  life  of  the  community,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Westmoreland  Club,  the 
Wyoming  Valley  Country  Club  of 
Wilkes-Barre,  the  Hazleton  Country 
Club  of  Hazleton,  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Society  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution, 
and  of  the  Wyoming  Historical  and  Geo- 
logical Society,  of  which  he  was  libra- 
rian from  1883  to  1885  and  treasurer  from 
1886  to  1895.  In  his  religious  belief  Mr. 
McClintock  is  a  Presbyterian,  and  is  a 
member  and  trustee  of  the  First  Church 
of  that  denomination  in  Wilkes-Barre. 
He  is  also  the  treasurer  of  this  church 
at  the  present  time,  and  is  thus  intimately 
connected  with  it  as  was  his  father,  who 
for  many  years  was  an  elder. 

Andrew  Hamilton  McClintock  was 
united  in  marriage,  December  1,  1880, 
with  Eleanor  Welles,  a  daughter  of  Col- 
onel Charles  F.  Welles,  Jr.,  and  Elizabeth 
(LaPorte)  Welles,  his  wife.  Mrs.  Mc- 
Clintock is  descended  on  the  maternal 
side  of  her  family  from  Governor  Thomas 
Welles,  of  Connecticut,  who  was  the  first 
treasurer  of  that  colony,  and  on  the  ma- 
ternal side  from  Bartholomew  LaPorte, 
a  member  of  the  French  Refugee  Colony 
at    Asylum,    Bradford    county,    Pennsyl- 


vania. Mr.  and  Mrs.  McClintock  became 
the  parents  of  two  children,  as  follows: 
1.  Gilbert  Stuart,  born  December  27, 
1886,  and  like  his  brother  studied  at  and 
was  graduated  from  the  Harry  Hill- 
man  Academy  at  Wilkes-Barre;  he  then 
attended  the  Lawrenceville  School  at 
Lawrenceville,  New  Jersey,  and  from 
there  entered  Princeton  University  and 
was  graduated  with  the  class  of  1908; 
he  has  followed  in  the  steps  of  his  father 
and  grandfather  in  choosing  the  law  as 
his  profession,  and  pursued  that  subject 
at  the  law  school  connected  with  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania ;  he  is  at  the 
present  time  associated  with  his  father 
in  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  gives  ample 
evidence  of  having  inherited  the  brilliant 
qualities  of  his  progenitors.  2.  Andrew 
Todd,  born  January  21,  1889,  and  now 
one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  younger 
physicians  of  Wilkes-Barre  ;  he  was  grad- 
uated from  the  Harry  Hillman  Academy 
at  Wilkes-Barre,  with  the  class  of  1903, 
and  like  his  father  entered  Princeton  Uni- 
versity ;  he  was  graduated  from  Prince- 
ton with  the  class  of  1907,  and  had  in  the 
meantime  made  up  his  mind  to  follow 
medicine  as  his  career  in  life;  accord- 
ingly he  entered  the  medical  school  con- 
nected with  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  received  his  medical  degree 
from  that  institution  in  191 1 ;  in  the  years 
1912-13,  both  inclusive,  he  held  the  post 
of  resident  physician  in  the  Wilkes-Barre 
City  Hospital,  and  here  gained  much  val- 
uable practical  experience ;  in  1913  he 
went  abroad  and  pursued  his  medical 
studies  at  Vienna  for  about  a  year;  he 
returned  in  the  autumn  of  1914  to  the 
United  States,  and  at  once  took  up  the 
active  practice  of  his  profession  in  his 
native  city;  Dr.  McClintock  has  already 
won  a  wide  reputation  for  himself  in  the 
medical  world,  and  is  specializing  to  a 
large  extent  in  the  subject  of  internal 
medicine. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


WHITMAN,  Benjamin, 

Man  of  Affairs,  Litterateur. 

No  man  in  the  city  of  Erie,  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  as  well  known  as  Bejamin 
Whitman,  his  speaking  acquaintances 
numbering  half  the  population  of  the  city. 
A  decade  has  passed  since  he  was  called 
to  his  reward,  but  his  memory  is  green, 
and  as  long  as  the  men  of  Erie  admire 
public  spirit,  enlightened  vision,  civic 
pride  and  devotion  to  duty,  so  long  will 
he  be  remembered.  He  was  a  high  type 
of  the  self-made,  home-loving  American, 
who  coupled  with  business  sagacity  and 
success  an  intellectual  culture  and  a  lit- 
erary taste  that  gave  him  a  place  in  the 
life  of  the  city  peculiarly  his  own.  Essen- 
tially a  man  of  the  people,  a  deep  interest 
in  their  welfare  was  expressed  in  his  acts, 
and  he  never  ceased  to  be  concerned  for 
their  well  being,  and  he  did  a  great  deal 
to  endear  himself  to  his  fellowmen.  It 
is  to  his  untiring  energy  and  interest  that 
Erie  owes  the  magnificent  public  library 
which  belongs  to  the  humblest  citizen  and 
to  the  most  exalted.  He  aroused  the  sen- 
timent which  demanded  such  an  institu- 
tion, was  the  author  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Free  Public  Library  Bill  which  made  it 
possible,  and  it  stands  to-day  a  splendid 
and  most  fitting  memorial  to  the  life  and 
services  of  Benjamin  Whitman,  journal- 
ist, publicist,  man  of  affairs,  author, 
scholar,  traveler  and  public  official.  He 
was  a  native  son  of  Pennsylvania,  his 
parents,  George  F.  and  Mary  (Demper- 
lay)  Whitman,  of  Middletown,  Dauphin 
county,  he  their  first  born  son. 

Benjamin  Whitman  was  born  in  Mid- 
dletown, Pennsylvania,  January  28,  1840, 
died  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  Old  Mexico, 
March  14,  1908,  he  being  at  the  time  on 
a  travel  tour,  as  was  his  custom  each 
spring.  He  attended  public  school  in 
Middletown    until    eleven   years   of   age, 


then  became  an  inmate  of  his  uncle's 
home  in  Bradford  county,  Pennsylvania, 
there  continuing  school  study  until  fifteen 
years  of  age,  the  stern  business  of  life 
then  beginning  for  the  lad.  He  began 
learning  the  printer's  trade  in  the  offices 
of  the  Harrisburg  "Telegraph,"  then  the 
leading  newspaper  of  the  capital  city. 
Three  years  later,  and  he  was  then  only 
eighteen,  he  bought  an  interest  in  the 
Middletown  "Journal,"  his  home  town 
paper,  and  became  its  editor.  Just  why 
does  not  appear,  but  he  sold  the  "Journal" 
after  six  months'  ownership,  and  until  the 
winter  of  1859  was  engaged  in  journalis- 
tic work  at  Lancaster  and  Harrisburg. 
He  taught  school  in  Middletown,  the 
winter  of  1859-60,  then  located  in  Erie, 
Pennsylvania,  a  city  which  was  ever 
afterward  his  home. 

He  did  not  accidentally  stumble  upon 
Erie  as  a  location,  but  came  upon  invita- 
tion from  Andrew  Hopkins,  then  man- 
aging editor  and  owner  of  the  Erie  "Ob- 
server," who  offered  the  young  man  of 
twenty  the  position  of  assistant-editor. 
This  throws  a  strong  light  upon  the  jour- 
nalistic ability  of  Mr.  Whitman,  even  at 
that  early  age.  One  year  after  his  arrival 
in  Erie  he  bought  an  interest  in  the 
"Observer,"  a  weekly  paper,  and  in  Jan- 
uary, 1864,  became  sole  owner  and  editor. 
Four  fourteen  years  he  retained  control 
of  the  paper  and  its  editorial  policy,  win- 
ning success  from  nine  professional  and 
financial  points  of  view.  He  displayed 
splendid  editorial  ability,  his  views  were 
sound  and  so  well  expressed  that  they 
won  him  friendships  that  only  death  dis- 
solved. He  retired  from  active  news- 
paper work,  December  1,  1878,  but  all  his 
life  he  was  connected  with  some  form  of 
literary  work  and  was  an  able  writer 
whose  contributions  were  welcome  in  any 
newspaper  office.  He  was  Erie's  most 
successful  newspaper  editor  and  laid  the 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


foundation  of  his  fortune  while  a  jour- 
nalist. His  business  activities  thereafter 
were  chiefly  in  connection  with  real 
estate  development  and  financiering  and 
the  fulfilling  of  public  trusts.  He  had 
abounding  faith  in  the  future  of  Erie,  and 
took  pride  in  being  a  factor  in  its  rapid 
growth.  He  encouraged  workmen  to 
become  home  owners,  and  through  his 
advice  and  encouragement  what  was  once 
a  desolate  part  of  the  city  became  a  sec- 
tion of  neat  homes,  with  sewers,  pave- 
ments and  every  other  improvement.  His 
work  in  that  section  stamps  him  a  pub- 
lic benefactor  and  will  endure. 

Mr.  Whitman  was  a  Democrat  in  poli- 
tics and  a  recognized  leader,  enjoying  the 
confidence  of  those  two  strong  national 
leaders,  Senator  Wallace  and  Congress- 
man Samuel  J.  Randall.  He  was  a  per- 
sonal and  political  friend  of  Governor 
Pattison,  and  largely  through  that  friend- 
ship and  Mr.  Whitman's  influence,  Erie 
was  chosen  as  the  site  for  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Soldiers'  Home.  Governor  Patti- 
son appointed  him  executive  chairman  of 
Pennsylvania's  World's  Fair  Commis- 
sion, and  for  some  time  he  was  chairman 
of  the  Democratic  County  Committee.  He 
was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Conven- 
tion of  1884,  which  nominated  Grover 
Cleveland  for  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  was  delegate  to  many  State 
conventions  of  his  party,  also  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  State  Central  Committee.  He 
was  never  an  office  seeker,  in  fact  stead- 
fastly declined  to  allow  his  name  to  be 
used  in  connection  with  any  office,  city, 
county  or  State.  But  he  did  use  his 
great  political  influence  cheerfully  in  the 
city  of  Erie.  In  1881,  without  any  solici- 
tation on  his  own  part,  he  was  appointed 
by  Judge  Galbraith  to  a  place  upon  the 
Erie  Board  of  Water  Commissioners,  a 
position,  non-political,  which'  he  held 
until   1887,  his  service  to  the  city  being 


very  valuable.  In  the  World's  Fair  Com- 
mission he  served  as  chairman  until  ill 
health  compelled  him  to  resign  in  the 
spring  of  1893,  but  at  the  earnest  solicita- 
tion of  the  other  members  he  remained 
on  the  commission  and  helped  to  plan,  fit 
up  and  equip  the  State  building  and  State 
exhibits  as  well  as  preparing  the  report 
of  the  board. 

Other  public  service  rendered  was  as 
trustee  of  Erie  Academy,  and  in  his  prep- 
aration of  the  "History  of  Erie  County," 
published  in  1884.  In  1896  he  compiled 
the  State,  county  and  local  matter  in  Nel- 
son's Biographical  Dictionary.  He  deliv- 
ered many  political  speeches  and  ad- 
dresses, and  it  was  long  his  habit  to  make 
extended  travel  tours,  and  upon  his 
return  to  Erie  to  give  interesting  and 
instructive  travel  talks  on  lectures  on  the 
wonders  he  had  seen.  Only  a  short  time 
before  his  last  tour  he  published  a  book 
describing  his  travels  in  the  Holy  Land, 
and  to  other  famed  historical  localities. 
Cuba  and  the  West  Indies  were  visited, 
and  in  Old  Mexico  he  was  stricken  with 
his  fatal  illness.  While  he  was  actively 
identified  with  every  movement  to  make 
Erie  a  greater  city,  and  his  enthusiasm 
inspired  others,  there  is  one  institution 
whom  all  agree  is  to  be  credited  to  his 
untiring  energy  and  devoted  interest,  The 
Free  Public  Library.  The  following  ex- 
tract from  a  resolution  adopted  by  his 
associates  of  the  board  of  trustees,  fit- 
tingly expresses  their  regard  for  his 
work: 

Mr.  Whitman's  interest  in  our  Library — his 
loyalty  to  the  Cause  of  Education — his  liberality 
or  catholicity  of  spirit — cannot  be  better  ex- 
pressed than  by  using  his  own  words.  In  his 
address  as  presiding  officer  of  the  day,  at  the 
dedication  of  the  Library,  February  16,  1899, 
among  other  things,  he  said:  "This  is  the  peo- 
ple's building — not  for  a  favored  few  only.  It 
was  built  by  the  people  for  the  use  of  the  people 
of  all  creeds,  colors,  races  and  conditions.    There 


55 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


must  be  no  distinction  here — no  prejudice,  no 
preferences.  The  poorest  man  and  woman  must 
be  made  to  feel  as  welcome  as  the  richest ;  the 
child  of  the  humblest  laboring  man  must  receive 
as  kind  attention  as  the  son  or  daughter  of  the 
grandest  and  the  proudest."  And  in  closing  his 
address  he  said :  "I  congratulate  you  ladies  and 
gentlemen  upon  the  dawn  of  a  new  and  better 
day  for  our  city  and  country.  The  erection  of 
this  building  will  extend  the  fame  of  our  city, 
far  and  wide,  and  the  Library,  if  properly  con- 
ducted, will  improve  the  tone,  the  spirit  and  the 
sentiment  of  this  entire  section.  You  have  cause 
to  feel  proud  that  Erie  has  been  the  first  City  in 
the  Commonwealth  to  avail  herself  of  the  Free 
Library  Act  of  1895,  and  that  she  has  done  her 
part  in  a  way  that  promises  so  much  for  the 
future." 

Mr.  Whitman  was  a  member  of  the 
Erie  Press  Club,  and  an  honorary  mem- 
ber of  the  Erie  Typographical  Union.  He 
was  long  affiliated  with  Perry  Lodge, 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  and  when 
the  time  came  to  lay  him  in  Erie  Ceme- 
tery the  beautiful  Masonic  service  was 
fully  carried  out  at  the  grave.  Memorial 
services  were  held  at  the  lodge  rooms  in 
Masonic  Temple  and  fitting  eulogies  were 
delivered.  The  Erie  Board  of  Education 
also  testified  to  his  high  character  in  res- 
olutions of  respect,  and  the  press  of  the 
State  vied  in  their  expressions  of  respect 
to  his  memory. 

Mr.  Whitman  married,  May  31,  1870, 
Mary  Emma  Teel,  daughter  of  Silas  E. 
and  Julia  A.  Teel.  Mrs.  Whitman  con- 
tinues her  residence  in  Erie. 


PAYNE,  EDWARD  F., 

Extensive  Coal  Operator. 

Edward  F.  Payne  comes  of  a  family 
which  for  three  generations  has  been 
prominent  in  the  coal  mining  industry  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  he  was  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  figures  in  the  development 
of  this  great  business  during  his  life.  As 
a  man  Mr.  Payne  occupied  a  position  in 
his   community    held   but   by   few.      The 


worth  of  his  citizenship  was  recognized 
by  all  his  associates,  and  in  whatever 
capacity  he  filled  his  work  was  done  with 
the  same  high  efficiency  and  conscien- 
tious devotion  which  marked  his  life  as 
a  whole.  He  was  a  man  of  strict  integ- 
rity and  lofty  purpose,  and  he  counted  his 
friends  among  the  high  and  the  lowly,  his 
friendship  for  them  being  always  faith- 
ful and  sure.  He  was  possessed  of  a 
kindly  heart  and  genial  disposition,  and 
was  at  all  times  very  approachable,  his 
outlook  on  life  being  fundamentally  dem- 
ocratic. Mr.  Payne's  family  was  of  Irish 
origin,  and  was  founded  in  America  by 
one  Robert  Payne,  a  native  of  Bally  Com- 
mon, Kings  county,  Ireland,  who  with 
his  wife,  Mary  A.  (Chamberlain)  Payne, 
came  to  America  with  their  son  Edward, 
and  settled  in  Canada.  Robert  Payne's 
wife  was  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  William 
Chamberlain,  a  clergyman  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church  of  England,  resident  at 
Bally  Common.  When  Edward  Payne, 
the  son  of  the  immigrant,  had  grown  to 
young  manhood,  he  came  from  Canada  to 
the  United  States,  and  settling  in  Penn- 
sylvania he  soon  became  interested  in  the 
coal  business  there,  and  eventually  be- 
came a  noted  operator.  He  married  Pris- 
cilla  Standish,  a  young  lady  of  English 
family,  and  made  their  home  in  Schuylkill 
county,  Pennsylvania. 

Edward  F.  Payne,  son  of  Edward  and 
Priscilla  (Standish)  Payne,  was  born  at 
his  father's  home  in  Schuylkill  county, 
Pennsylvania,  and  passed  the  first  few 
years  of  his  childhood  at  his  native  place. 
While  still  young,  however,  he  was  sent 
to  the  public  school  at  Jersey  City,  New 
Jersey,  where  he  was  a  student  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  Upon  completing  his  course 
at  this  institution,  he  returned  to  his 
native  State  and  then  engaged  in  the 
business  in  which  his  father  had  already 
made  so  notable  a  success.     He  held  in 


56 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


succession  the  positions  of  outside  and 
inside  foreman  of  the  East  Boston  Mine 
at  Wilkes-Barre,  and  was  eventually 
made  general  superintendent  of  the  col- 
liery. Sometime  later  he  and  his  brother, 
William  G.  Payne,  purchased  the  entire 
property  from  its  former  owners  and  suc- 
ceeded them  in  the  great  business  which 
they  had  built  up.  The  great  organizing 
abilities  of  Mr.  Payne  rendered  the  suc- 
cess of  their  concern  secure  from  the  out- 
set, and  the  business  steadily  grew  in 
size  and  importance  up  to  the  time  of  his 
retirement  therefrom.  He  was  recognized 
as  one  of  the  most  energetic  and  capable 
managers  in  Luzerne  county,  and  his 
works  were  unusually  free  from  the  labor 
disturbances  which  have  proved  so  great 
a  menace  to  the  average  colliery.  This 
was  undoubtedly  due  to  the  unusual 
kindness  and  consideration  with  which 
he  treated  his  employees  and  all  those 
who  worked  for  him  in  any  capacity. 
Indeed  he  won  for  himself  a  very  enviable 
reputation  in  this  connection  throughout 
the  region,  so  that  he  always  had  his  pick 
of  the  best  laborers  thereabouts.  His  per- 
sonality was  an  unusually  genial  one,  and 
he  made  friends  easily  in  whatever  class 
he  happened  to  come  in  contact  with. 
After  many  years  of  active  management, 
Mr.  Payne  finally  disposed  of  his  inter- 
ests in  the  East  Boston  Coal  Company, 
and  retired  from  business.  But  although 
he  no  longer  actively  took  part  in  the 
business  world,  he  continued  to  hold 
extensive  and  valuable  interests  in  soft 
coal  properties  in  West  Virginia,  and 
these  are  still  retained  in  his  family.  He 
.  was  also  a  director  of  the  Miners'  Bank 
of  Wilkes-Barre,  an  office  which  he  con- 
tinued to  hold  up  to  the  time  of  his  death. 
Mr.  Payne  was  exceedingly  prominent 
in  the  social  life  of  Wilkes-Barre  and  its 
environs,  and  was  a  member  of  the  West- 
moreland Club  of  that  city.    He  was  also 


prominently  affiliated  with  the  Masonic 
order,  and  was  a  member  of  the  lodge, 
Ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons;  the 
chapter,  Royal  Arch  Masons ;  the  coun- 
cil, Royal  and  Select  Masters,  and  the 
commandery,  Knights  Templar.  In  his 
religious  belief  Mr.  Payne  was  a  Presby- 
terian, and  was  a  member  of  the  First 
Church  of  that  denomination  at  Wilkes- 
Barre. 

Edward  F.  Payne  was  united  in  mar- 
riage, June  22,  1876,  with  Elsie  Reith,  a 
daughter  of  George  and  Ann  (Esson) 
Reith,  both  of  whom  were  natives  of 
Scotland.  Four  children  were  born  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Payne,  as  follows:  Edith. 
June  14,  1877 >  Edward,  who  died  Octo- 
ber 22,  1884;  Ellen  Arline,  born  Septem- 
ber 28,  1885 ;  and  Bruce  B.,  born  April 
27,  1889. 

Mr.  Payne  was  a  man  of  strong  indi- 
viduality, whose  mind  was  capable  of 
thinking  clearly  and  originally  and  who 
was  always  independent  in  thought,  word 
and  action.  This  is  well  shown  in  his 
attitude  toward  politics,  in  which  he 
always  maintained  a  free  and  non-par- 
tisan judgment.  He  reserved  the  right 
to  decide  for  himself  upon  all  political 
issues  and  voted  for  that  candidate  which 
he  honestly  believed  to  be  the  best  for 
the  community,  irrespective  of  the  party 
name  with  which  he  was  labeled.  His 
death,  which  occurred  on  October  17, 1910, 
was  felt  as  a  severe  loss  by  the  entire 
community  and  there  were  many  expres- 
sions of  sorrow  and  regret  as  well  as 
admiration  for  his  past  life  and  achieve- 
ments, from  the  most  varied  sources.  The 
resolutions  passed  by  the  Miners'  Bank  of 
Wilkes-Barre,  of  which  Mr.  Payne  had 
been  director  for  so  many  years,  deserve 
to  be  here  quoted.    They  were  as  follows : 

The  Committee  appointed  to  draft  appropriate 
resolutions  upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Edward  F. 
Payne  submit  the  following : 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Edward 
F.  Pa.vne  this  board  has  lost  a  faithful  and  con- 
scientious member,  who,  both  as  director  and  sec- 
retary, has  served  it  with  characteristic  earnest- 
ness and  zealous  devotion  to  duty. 

Resolved,  That  we  recognize  the  great  interest 
he  always  took  in  the  affairs  of  this  institution, 
and  that  we  deeply  mourn  for  him  as  one  in  every 
way  worthy  of  our  esteem  and  regard,  and  one 
who  from  out  intimate  association  with  him  on 
this  board  and  because  of  his  superior  social  and 
business  qualities  had  become  greatly  endeared  to 
us  all. 

Resolved,  That  we  sincerely  condole  with  his 
family  in  their  bereavement  and,  that  as  a  testi- 
monial of  our  sympathy  and  sorrow,  a  copy  of 
these  resolutions  be  forwarded  to  them,  and  that 
the  same  be  entered  in  full  upon  our  minutes  and 
that  we  attend  the  funeral  in  a  body. 

Mr.  Payne  was  a  most  public-spirited 
citizen  and  there  were  very  few  move- 
ments of  any  importance  undertaken  with 
the  city's  interests  in  view  with  which 
he  was  not  identified.  He  was  a  man  of 
strong,  almost  Puritanic  virtues,  but  his 
fellows  never  felt  any  inconvenience  from 
the  somewhat  stern  tone  of  his  morality, 
since  it  was  only  himself  that  he  applied 
it  to,  only  himself  whom  he  insisted  upon 


if  they  were  rich  or  poor,  high  or  low. 
This  lack  of  respect  for  the  accompani- 
ments of  fortune  is  a  quality  greatly 
admired  by  all  men,  who  feel  an  instinc- 
tive trust  in  those  who  possess  it,  and  it 
was  probably  this  as  much  as  anything 
that  accounted  for  the  popularity  which 
Mr.  Payne  enjoyed.  In  all  the  relations 
of  life  his  conduct  was  irreproachable, 
and  he  might  well  be  considered  as  a 
model  of  good  citizenship  and  worthy 
manhood.  Mr.  Payne  was  a  most  loving 
father,  a  devoted  husband  and  a  friend  of 
all  men. 


FLICK,  R.  Jay, 

Journalist,  Leader  in  Community  Affairs. 

R.  Jay  Flick,  one  of  the  best  known 
and  most  popular  business  men,  espe- 
cially in  connection  with  the  real  estate 
field,  in  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania,  is 
a  descendant  of  a  very  old  and  distin- 
guished family,  which  has  been  repre- 
sented in  this  State  from  the  middle  of 
the    eighteenth    century,    when    it    was 


living  up  to  his  ideals.     For  every  other     founded    here    by    his    ancestor,    Gerlach 


man  this  was  tempered  with  a  large  and 
wise  tolerance,  the  tolerance  of  the  phil- 
osopher who  realizes  that  it  is  only  him- 
self for  whom  he  is  responsible  and  that, 
although  others  may,  and  should  be  influ- 
enced in  all  ways  possible  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  right,  yet  more  than  this  is 
vain  and  that  no  one  man  has  a  right  to 
formulate  a  code  of  ethics  for  his  fellows. 
He  was  a  man  of  deep  sympathy  for  his 
fellows,  especially  all  such  as  had  suf- 
fered misfortune  of  any  kind,  and  to  these 
he  was  always  ready  to  extend  a  helping 
hand.  In  his  treatment  of  his  fellows  he 
was  able  to  meet  all  men  on  a  common 
ground,  and  his  judgment  of  them  was 
not  influenced  by  any  conditions  of  an 
exterior  nature.  All  men  were  equal  to 
him  and  it  never  occurred  to  him  to  ask 


Paul  Flick.  This  Gerlach  Paul  Flick  was 
a  native  of  Germany,  and  emigrated  from 
his  home  land  for  the  American  colonies 
in  the  good  ship  "Neptune,"  which 
arrived  at  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania, 
September  23,  1751.  Gerlach  Paul  Flick 
did  not  remain  in  the  city,  however,  but 
having  that  spirit  of  enterprise  which 
formed  the  early  pioneers  of  this  coun- 
try, he  set  out  at  once  into  what  wa? 
then  practically  a  pathless  wilderness, 
and  eventually  settled  in  Northampton 
county,  Pennsylvania,  in  one  of  the 
frontier  communities  of  that  day.  It  is 
remarkable  how  rapidly  these  communi- 
ties developed  and  how  soon  the  various 
industries  which  we  associate  with  civili- 
zation and  progress  found  their  way  to 
the  frontier.     One  of  these  was  brought 


58 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


by  the  original  ancestor  of  the  Flick  fam- 
ily, who  erected  a  mill  and  became  the 
miller  for  the  surrounding  region.  He 
was  successful  in  his  enterprise,  and 
became  a  man  much  respected  and 
esteemed  by  the  neighborhood.  His  death 
finally  occurred  there  at  the  venerable 
age  of  ninety-nine  years.  The  great 
longevity  of  this  family  through  many 
generations  is  a  matter  of  record,  and  is 
referred  to  with  pride  by  their  descend- 
ants. 

Gerlach  Paul  Flick  was  the  father  of 
three  sons,  Paul,  Martin  and  Casper,  all 
of  whom  were  born  at  his  home  in  the 
village  of  Moore,  Moore  township,  North- 
ampton county,  Pennsylvania.  Of  these 
the  youngest,  Casper,  was  the  ancestor  of 
the  branch  of  the  family  with  which  we 
are  here  concerned.  Casper  Flick  fol- 
lowed in  his  father's  footsteps,  and  was 
engaged  in  the  milling  business  all  his 
life.  At  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  he 
joined  the  patriot  forces  and  took  part 
in  that  momentous  struggle.  His  death 
occurred  at  the  age  of  eighty-two  years, 
and  he  was  the  father  of  twelve  children, 
nearly  all  of  whom  lived  to  be  over  eighty 
years  old. 

The  eldest  of  his  children,  John  Flick, 
was  born  January  I,  1783,  and  died  Janu- 
ary 1,  1869,  being  at  that  time  eighty-six 
years  to  a  day.  During  his  early  life  his 
occupation  was  that  of  a  miller,  and  he 
became  very  prominent  in  the  life  of 
Northampton  county.  Like  his  father,  he 
was  a  patriot  and  served  his  country  as  a 
soldier  during  the  War  of  1812,  being 
mustered  out  when  peace  was  finally 
declared.  He  was  a  Democrat  in  politics, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  public  affairs, 
being  undoubtedly  one  of  the  leading  citi- 
zens of  Northampton  county  during  his 
life.  He  was  county  commissioner  of 
Northampton,  Monroe,  Carbon  and  Le- 
high counties  at  the  time  when  they  con- 


sisted of  one  county,  and  was  twice 
elected  to  represent  his  home  community 
in  the  State  Legislature.  In  the  year  1813 
he  married  Eva  B.  Caster,  a  daughter  of 
Philip  Caster,  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution- 
ary Army,  and  who  at  one  time  lived  in 
the  Wyoming  Valley,  but  afterwards  set- 
tled at  Lower  Mount  Bethel,  Northamp- 
ton county.  Mrs.  Flick  died  in  the  year 
1873,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Flick  were  the  parents  of  a 
large  family  of  children,  of  whom  the 
eldest  son  was  Reuben  Jay,  father  of  R. 
Jay  Flick. 

Reuben  Jay  Flick,  eldest  son  of  John 
and  Eva  B.  (Caster)  Flick,  was  born  July 
10,  1816,  at  the  community  which  had 
come  to  be  known  as  Flicksville,  North- 
ampton county,  Pennsylvania,  named  in 
honor  of  his  father,  John  Flick.  His 
early  life  was  spent  on  his  father's  farm, 
and  in  the  year  1838,  when  he  was  twenty- 
two  years  of  age,  he  came  to  the  Wyom- 
ing Valley,  where  he  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile pursuits  and  later  in  banking.  In 
both  these  departments  of  the  commun- 
ity's life  he  was  very  prominent,  and  he 
became  first  president  of  the  People's 
Bank  at  Wilkes-Barre.  Upon  first  com- 
ing to  this  region  he  had  been  a  man 
without  either  resources  or  influence,  but 
by  dint  of  his  own  hard  work  and  inde- 
fatigable energy,  he  raised  himself  to  a 
high  place  in  the  esteem  and  regard  of  his 
adopted  community  and  became  one  of 
the  most  influential  citizens  of  Wilkes- 
Barre.  He  was  always  most  closely  iden- 
tified with  the  charitable  interests  of  the 
city,  his  position  as  trustee  of  Lincoln 
University  of  Oxford,  the  Harry  Hill- 
man  Academy,  the  Female  Institute  and 
the  City  Hospital  and  Home  for  Friend- 
less Children,  give  ample  evidence  of  his 
benevolence  and  the  amount  of  time  and 
energy  which  he  expended  for  the  less 
fortunate  of  the  community.     In  the  year 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


1882  he  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  his 
friends  and,  somewhat  against  his  own 
will,  became  the  candidate  for  member 
of  Congress  on  the  Prohibition  ticket. 
He  was  defeated,  however.  Besides  his 
presidency  of  the  People's  Bank,  Mr. 
Flick,  Sr.,  was  identified  with  a  large 
number  of  important  industrial  concerns 
in  this  region,  among  which  should  be 
mentioned  the  Wilkes-Barre  Lace  Manu- 
facturing Company,  of  which  he  was  the 
president  for  many  years.  Reuben  Jay 
Flick  was  married  on  January  9,  1858,  to 
Margaret  Jane  Arnold,  a  daughter  of 
Adam  and  Margaret  (Hoofsmith)  Arn- 
old, of  Hamilton,  Monroe  county,  Penn- 
sylvania. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Flick  were  par- 
ents of  five  children:  Liddon,  Warren 
J.,  Helen  Jessie,  Harry  Lincoln,  and  Reu- 
ben Jay,  Jr.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Flick,  Sr.,  were 
staunch  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  and  Mr.  Flick  was  a  elder  thereof 
for  a  number  of  years. 

Born  June  24,  1871,  at  Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania,  R.  Jay  Flick,  son  of  Reu- 
ben Jay  and  Margaret  Jane  (Arnold) 
Flick,  has  made  his  native  city  his  home 
ever  since  and  the  scene  of  his  busy  and 
active  career.  He  received  his  early  edu- 
cation at  the  local  public  schools  of 
Wilkes-Barre,  which  he  attended  as  a 
child,  and  afterwards  entered  the  Harry 
Hillman  Academy,  of  which  his  father 
was  one  of  the  officers.  He  was  thirteen 
years  of  age  at  this  time,  and  in  1888, 
when  seventeen,  graduated  from  that 
institution.  In  the  same  year  he  en- 
tered Phillips-Exeter  Academy,  graduat- 
ing from  there  in  1890,  after  having  been 
thoroughly  prepared  for  college.  In  1890 
he  matriculated  at  Princeton  University 
and  was  graduated  from  that  institution 
with  the  class  of  1894,  after  having  estab- 
lished an  enviable  record  for  himself  for 
general  good  character  and  scholarship. 
Young  Mr.  Flick  felt  that  his  talents  and 


tastes  both  urged  him  to  a  business 
career,  and  accordingly,  to  supplement  his 
general  education,  he  entered  the  Wyom- 
ing Business  College  in  1896  and  gradu- 
ated from  the  full  business  course  in  nine 
weeks.  In  the  same  year  he  was  ap- 
pointed business  manager  of  the  Wilkes- 
Barre  "Times,"  an  evening  daily  paper, 
published  in  this  city  by  the  Wilkes- 
Barre  Times  Company.  So  successful 
did  he  prove  in  this  capacity  that  about 
1900  he  became  treasurer  of  the  Wilkes- 
Barre  Times  Company,  and  in  1905  be- 
came its  president  and  the  editor  of  the 
Wilkes-Barre  "Times."  As  the  editor  of 
this  influential  journal,  Mr.  Flick  at  one 
bound  became  a  power  in  the  community 
to  be  reckoned  with,  and  it  may  be  said 
of  him  that  the  power  which  he  wielded 
and  still  wields  has  ever  been  used  by 
him  in  the  cause  of  right  and  to  the  best 
advantage  of  the  community,  as  he  has 
honestly  seen  it,  so  that  he  deservedly 
owns  the  regard  and  the  esteem  of  the 
entire  community.  Perhaps  an  even 
greater  service  to  Wilkes-Barre  per- 
formed by  Mr.  Flick  than  the  influence 
which  he  has  exerted  through  his  paper 
is  the  great  stimulus  and  assistance  that 
he  has  given  to  the  development  of  many 
industrial  and  business  concerns  in  this 
region.  While  still  a  very  young  man, 
he  became  greatly  interested  in  the  pro- 
motion and  reorganization  of  the  various 
public  utilities  in  Wilkes-Barre  and  the 
surrounding  region,  especially  of  the  gas 
and  electric  companies  hereabouts.  He 
has  been  very  prominently  associated 
with  certain  of  these  concerns,  and  has 
been  president  of  the  Bethlehem  Consol- 
idated Gas  Company  of  Bethlehem,  Penn- 
sylvania, of  the  Vineland  Light  &  Power 
Company  of  Vineland,  New  Jersey,  and 
is  now  the  president  of  the  People's  Light 
Company  of  Pittston,  Pennsylvania.  He 
is  also  a  director  of  the  Wyoming  Valley 


00 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Trust  Company,  the  Wilkes-Barre  Lace 
Manufacturing  Company,  of  which  his 
father  was  president,  the  Mahanoy  City 
Gas  Company,  the  Hazard  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  Wilkes-Barre  county,  and 
several  other  institutions.  He  is  a  very 
prominent  figure  in  the  social  and  club 
circles  of  the  city,  and  is  a  member  of 
the  Westmoreland  Club,  the  Wyoming 
Valley  Country  Club  of  Wilkes-Barre, 
the  Scranton  Club  of  Scranton,  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  New  York  Yacht  Club,  the 
Bankers'  Club,  and  City  Club  of  New 
York  City. 

R.  Jay  Flick  was  united  in  marriage, 
February  10,  1909,  with  Mrs.  Henrietta 
Ridgely  Flick,  the  widow  of  his  brother, 
Liddon  Flick.  They  are  the  parents  of 
one  child,  a  daughter  Eleanor  Ridgely 
Flick,  born  December  8,  1910. 


PARRISH,  Charles, 

Leader    in    Wyoming    Valley    Development. 

Since  man  in  his  onward  march  first 
teamed  and  gashed  the  fair  Wyoming 
Valley  of  Pennsylvania  with  his  coal 
mining  devices,  and  laid  down  gleaming 
rails  which  carry  the  product  of  the  val- 
ley to  every  part  of  the  country,  no  man 
can  justly  lay  claim  to  a  greater  share 
in  the  great  development  of  that  rich 
coal  field  than  Charles  Parrish,  of  Wilkes- 
Barre  .  He  began  his  business  career 
under  that  sterling  merchant  and  finan- 
cier, Ziba  Bennett,  when  a  lad  of  fifteen, 
and  eventually  became  his  partner,  but 
with  the  opening  of  the  Wyoming  Valley 
to  mines  and  railroads  he  quickly  saw 
the  possibilities,  and  with  active  brain, 
broad  vision  and  quick  initiative,  he 
secured  a  strong  position  which  he  always 
held.  He  drew  to  the  coal  district  capi- 
tal and  labor  from  all  over  the  world,  and 
the  Valley  Metropolis,  Wilkes-Barre, 
owes  much  of  her  greatness  to  the  vision, 


energy,  enterprise  and  unusual  ability  of 
her  adopted  son,  Charles  Parrish. 

Parrish  is  an  eminent  English  family 
name,  and  was  brought  to  Massachu- 
setts in  1635,  by  Dr.  James  Parrish,  born 
in  England  in  1612.  He  came  in  the  ship 
"Increase,"  in  1635,  was  made  a  freeman 
in  1637,  and  after  practicing  his  profes- 
sion many  years  in  Massachusetts, 
returned  to  England,  where  he  died. 
John  Parrish,  son  of  Dr.  James  and  Mary 
Parrish,  was  one  of  the  original  proprie- 
tors of  Groton,  Massachusetts,  and  there 
resided  until  1712.  He  served  as  sergeant 
and  ensign  in  the  military  company  of 
the  town  in  1683,  was  selectman,  and  con- 
stable, and  in  1693  deputy  to  the  General 
Court.  In  1712  he  moved  to  Stonington, 
Connecticut,  where  he  died  in  171 5.  Isaac 
Parrish,  son  of  John,  and  grandson  of 
Dr.  James  Parrish,  was  born  in  1698, 
died  in  1764;  lieutenant  of  the  first  mili- 
tary company  in  Windham  county,  Con- 
necticut. He  served  in  the  French  and 
Indian  wars  of  his  day,  and  was  one  of 
the  leading  men  of  his  section.  He  mar- 
ried, March  3,  1720,  Margaret  Smith. 

Archippus  Parrish,  son  of  Lieutenant 
Isaac  and  Margaret  (Smith)  Parrish,  was 
born  October  10,  1735,  died  in  1780,  and 
was  buried  at  Storrs,  Connecticut.  He 
married  Abigail  Burnap,  March  10,  1763, 
and  in  1766  located  in  North  Mansfield. 
There  he  purchased  land,  and  established  a 
tannery  which  he  conducted  profitably 
for  many  years.  He  was  succeeded  by 
his  son,  Archippus  (2)  Parrish,  born  Jan- 
uary 27,  1773,  at  Windham,  Connecticut, 
died  at  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania,  in 
October,  1847.  He  married,  in  Morris- 
town,  New  Jersey,  Phoebe  Miller,  and 
for  several  years  was  engaged  in  business 
in  New  York  City,  acquiring  a  substan- 
tial fortune.  In  i8iohe  located  in  Wilkes- 
Barre,  there  engaging  in  mercantile  life, 
but  later  became  proprietor  of  that  old- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


time  famous  inn  on  the  public  square, 
"The  Black  Horse  Hotel."  This  famed 
hostelry  was  a  recognized  gathering  place 
for  the  prominent  men  of  the  Wyoming 
Valley,  the  old  soldiers  of  the  Revolution, 
and  the  olden  time  gentlemen  of  the  city, 
as  well  as  for  the  traveler  on  business  or 
visiting  the  historic  battlefields  of  the 
Valley.  Tales  of  the  olden  times  were 
told  and  retold,  and  with  wonderment  the 
younger  listened  to  the  recital  of  thrill- 
ing adventure,  narrow  escapes  from  and 
victories  over  savage  foes,  as  well  as  to 
the  story  of  suffering,  disaster  and  death 
that  befell  so  many  in  the  beautiful 
Wyoming  Valley.  Archippus  (2)  Parrish 
and  Phoebe  (Miller)  Parrish  were  the 
parents  of  Charles  Parrish,  to  whose 
memory  is  dedicated  this  review  of  an 
ancient  family  and  record  of  an  honorable 
and  useful  life. 

Charles  Parrish  was  born  in  Dun- 
daff,  Susquehanna  county,  Pennsylvania, 
August  2,  1826,  died  in  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  December  27,  1896,  his  sev- 
enty years  spent  in  the  Wyoming  Valley. 
He  attended  Wilkes-Barre  Academy  until 
fifteen  years  of  age,  then  began  the  won- 
derful business  career  which  was  only 
terminated  by  death,  fifty-five  years  later. 
His  first  position  was  as  clerk  in  the  gen- 
eral store  of  Ziba  Bennett,  of  Wilkes- 
Barre.  This  was  in  1841,  and  until  1856 
he  continued  in  business  association  with 
Mr.  Bennett,  passing  through  all  grades 
of  promotion  until  becoming  a  partner. 
In  1856  he  withdrew  from  the  firm,  then 
being  a  young  man  of  thirty,  and  with 
that  withdrawal  the  second  fifteen  year 
period  of  his  life  ended  and  an  entirely 
new  era  began.  He  had  discerned  the 
"signs  of  the  times,"  with  clearer  vision 
than  the  older  men,  and  foresaw  that  coal 
was  to  reign  as  King  of  the  Valley.  See- 
ing this,  he  withdrew  from  mercantile 
life,  and  henceforth  was  the  daring,  suc- 


cessful coal  operator  and  dealer  in  coal 
lands  and  mines.  He  developed  great 
powers  of  resource  and  quick  decision, 
every  acre  of  the  vast  holdings  of  the  Le- 
high and  Wilkes-Barre  Coal  Company 
west  of  the  mountains  having  been 
selected  after  examination  and  purchased 
under  his  direction.  He  organized  the 
Lehigh  and  Wilkes-Barre  Company,  was 
its  first  and  only  president  for  twenty 
years ;  was  president  of  the  Lehigh  and 
Wilkes-Barre  Coal  and  Iron  Company, 
and  while  president  founded  in  a  unique 
way  the  wonderful  philanthropy  con- 
nected with  that  company.  He  secured 
the  consent  of  the  employers  of  the  com- 
pany to  allow  one  day's  wages  to  go  into 
a  fund,  he  agreeing  that  the  company 
would  devote  the  entire  proceeds  of  the 
mines  for  one  day  to  the  same  fund.  The 
agreement  was  faithfully  kept  on  both 
sides,  and  a  capital  created  which  is  used 
for  the  relief  of  men  disabled  in  mine 
work.  This  was  long  before  the  day  of 
indemnity  laws,  and  shows  that  he  was 
as  far  in  advance  of  his  time  in  welfare 
work  as  in  business  methods. 

His  mining  interests  were  large,  but 
by  no  means  measured  the  extent  of  his 
activities.  He  built  railroads;  was  for 
twenty  y«ars  president  of  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Wilkes-Barre ;  president 
of  the  Hazard  Manufacturing  Company ; 
a  promoter  and  stockholder  of  the  Lehigh 
Coal  and  Navigation  Company ;  director 
of  the  Northwest  Branch  Railroad ;  and 
in  addition  to  the  two  large  coal  com- 
panies previously  mentioned,  he  was 
president  of  the  Parrish  and  Annora  Coal 
Companies.  He  kept  in  close  touch  with 
the  business  life  of  Wilkes-Barre,  and 
with  counsel  and  material  aid  advanced 
the  various  undertakings  which  brought 
prosperity  to  the  city.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  generous  of  men,  and  many  owe 
their  start  in   life  to  the  aid  he  quietly 


62 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


extended,  and  to  the  advice  he  freely 
gave  when  asked. 

Not  content  with  being  foremost  in  a 
business  sense,  he  sought  in  other  ways 
to  advance  city  interests,  and  for  seven 
years  he  was  president  of  the  City  Coun- 
cil, giving  to  city  affairs  his  strong,  guid- 
ing hand  in  business  matters.  During  his 
term,  well  paved  and  well  lighted  streets 
became  the  rule,  not  the  exception ;  suf- 
ficient fire  fighting  apparatus  to  protect 
the  city  was  installed ;  and  an  efficient 
police  force  maintained.  The  city  was 
conducted  as  a  business  is  conducted,  and 
efficiency  ruled  in  every  department. 
During  the  Civil  War  period,  he  was  very 
active  in  aid  of  the  Government,  both  in 
recruiting,  equipping  and  caring  for 
troops.  He  was  an  attendant  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  church,  a  Republi- 
can in  politics,  a  life  member  of  the 
Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  So- 
ciety, member  of  the  Pennsylvania  Chap- 
ter, Sons  of  the  Revolution,  and  in  all 
was  interested  and  helpful.  He  held  the 
respect  of  all  men,  and  personally  was 
very  popular.  He  rose  to  eminence  among 
eminent  men,  and  through  his  own  indi- 
viduality and  ability  won  his  way  to  suc- 
cess. 

Mr.  Parrish  married,  June  21,  1864, 
Mary  Conyngham,  born  February  20, 
1834,  daughter  of  Honorable  John  N. 
Conyngham,  LL.  D.,  and  his  wife,  Ruth 
Ann  Butler,  and  granddaughter  of  Col- 
onel Zebulon  Butler,  the  Continental  offi- 
cer and  hero.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  Par- 
rish were  the  parents  of  four  daughters: 
1.  Anna  Conyngham  Parrish,  married, 
October  20,  1906,  Joseph  H.  Bradley,  of 
Washington,  D.  C,  she  being  his  second 
wife ;  they  are  the  parents  of  a  daughter, 
Mary  Parrish  Bradley.  2.  Eleanor  Mayer 
Parrish,  married,  January  14,  1903,  Joseph 
H.  Bradley,  and  died  February  9,  1904, 
leaving  a  son,  Joseph  H.  (2),  who  died 
in    1910.      3.  Mary    Conyngham    Parrish, 


died  in  infancy.  4.  Katherine  Christine 
Parrish,  married,  July  22,  1902,  Arthur  A. 
Snyder,  M.  D.,  of  Washington,  D.  C. ; 
their  children  are :  Katherine  Conyng- 
ham, Eleanor  Parrish,  and  Sophia  Tay- 
loe  Snyder. 


SCHOOLEY,  Jesse  B., 

Substantial   Citizen. 

The  name  of  Schooley  is  perpetuated 
in  New  Jersey  by  Schooley's  Mountain,  a 
one-time  famed  summer  resort  of  War- 
ren county,  numerous  descendants  of 
John  Schooley,  the  founder  of  the  fam- 
ily, settling  in  that  region  and  owning 
a  great  deal  of  land.  Jesse  Barber 
Schooley,  a  prominent  business  man  of 
Wyoming,  Pennsylvania,  is  the  second  to 
bear  the  name,  Jesse  B.  Schooley,  his 
father,  coming  from  Greenwich,  Warren 
county,  New  Jersey.  He  was  a  son  of 
Joseph  P.  Schooley,  son  of  Jedediah 
Schooley,  who  was  a  grandson  of  John 
Schooley,  the  Englishman  who  came 
from  Lancashire,  England,  about  the  year 
1700,  and  settled  in  Sussex  county,  New 
Jersey.  Joseph  P.  Schooley  was  a  man 
of  excellent  qualities,  owning  and  culti- 
vating a  farm  at  Greenwich  in  Warren 
county. 

Joseph  P.  Schooley  was  born  at  Green- 
wich, Warren  county,  New  Jersey,  April 
17,  1785.  In  1809  he  married,  in  Warren 
county,  Margaret  Barber,  and  in  1818 
moved  from  New  Jersey  to  the  Wyoming 
Valley,  Pennsylvania,  locating  their  home 
in  the  township  of  Exeter  (near  the  now 
borough  of  Wyoming)  upon  a  large  farm 
which  Mr.  Schooley  had  purchased.  Both 
Joseph  P.  and  Margaret  Schooley  died  at 
the  farm,  he  on  January  28,  1875.  They 
had  children :  Jesse  Barber,  of  further 
mention ;  Jedediah,  Mary  Ann,  William, 
Elizabeth,  Mehitable,  Joanna,  Joseph,  and 
Margaret. 

Jesse    Barber    Schooley    was    born    in 


6* 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Warren  county,  New  Jersey,  April  i, 
1811,  died  at  Wyoming,  Pennsylvania, 
December  15,  1884.  He  was  seven  years 
of  age  when  the  family  moved  to  the 
Wyoming  Valley,  and  there  he  was  edu- 
cated and  at  the  home  farm  passed  his 
years  of  minority.  He  learned  the  car- 
penter's trade,  and  in  the  early  twenties 
was  employed  in  boating  upon  the  Mor- 
ris and  Essex  canal.  Later  he  became  a 
merchant  operating  in  Wyoming,  having 
as  a  partner  Thomas  F.  Atherton,  who 
later  was  president  of  the  Second  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Wilkes-Barre.  During 
this  period  he  began  investing  in  coal 
lands,  one  of  the  tracts  he  owned  being 
the  present  site  of  the  Mount  Lookout 
Colliery  and  its  workings.  After  acquir- 
ing coal  interests,  he  moved  his  mercan- 
tile interests  to  Pittston,  and  there  also 
conducted  a  general  store.  In  addition  to 
his  store  and  mining  operations,  he  was 
also  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  brick. 
He  was  postmaster  at  Wyoming  about 
1879,  ar,d  ever  retained  his  ownership  of 
the  homestead  farm.  He  was  a  director 
of  the  Second  National  Bank  of  Wilkes- 
Barre.  He  married,  at  Wyoming,  Feb- 
ruary 20,  1838,  Eliza  J.  Brees,  daughter  of 
John  and  Jerusha  (Johnston)  Brees, 
granddaughter  of  Captain  Samuel  Brees, 
and  great-granddaughter  of  John  Brees, 
of  Somerset  county,  New  Jersey,  who, 
born  in  Holland  in  1713,  came  to  New 
Jersey  in  1735,  and  in  1736  married  Doro- 
thy Riggs,  and  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revo- 
lution. His  son,  Captain  Samuel  Brees, 
was  also  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  mar- 
ried Hannah  Pierson,  and  moved  to  the 
Wyoming  Valley,  arriving  at  Wilkes- 
Barre,  June  11,  1789.  Jesse  Barber  and 
Eliza  J.  (Brees)  Schooley  were  the  par- 
ents of:  Fannie,  Margaret  J.,  Elizabeth 
S.,  Joseph  J.,  Jennie  E.,  Kate  M.,  Jesse 
B.  (2), of  further  mention;  and  James  M. 
Jesse    B.    (2)    Schooley    was    born    in 


Wyoming,  Pennsylvania,  March  20,  1854, 
and  is  now  living  practically  retired  from 
business  cares,  in  the  town  of  his  birth. 
He  was  seventh  of  his  parents'  eight 
children,  and  has  always  resided  at  the 
homestead,  purchasing  the  property  from 
the  heirs  of  Jesse  B.  (1)  Schooley  in  1884. 
He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools, 
and  until  1876  remained  with  his  par- 
ents, engaged  in  cultivating  the  land  now 
the  site  of  Lookout  Colliery.  In  that  year 
he  was  appointed  assistant  to  his  father, 
who  was  then  postmaster  of  Wyoming. 
He  obtained  a  good  education  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  and  at  Wyoming  Seminary, 
and  as  assistant  postmaster  he  was  the 
virtual  head  of  the  office  until  appointed 
to  succeed  his  father,  who  died  in  1884. 
Jesse  Jr.  continued  the  management  of 
the  office  until  the  spring  of  1885,  then 
resigned,  having  been  appointed  admin- 
istrator of  his  father's  estate.  He  was  I 
fully  occupied  with  his  duties  as  adminis- 
trator  until  1886,  then  purchased  the 
homestead,  and  has  since  been  concerned 
in  its  management  and  in  caring  for  his  ; 
general  business  interests. 

He  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Wyoming,  the 
existence  of  that  institution  dating  from 
March  27,  1907,  Mr.  Schooley  being 
elected  a  member  of  the  first  board  of 
directors,  and  by  them  was  chosen  vice- 
president,  an  office  he  yet  holds.  He  is  j 
a  trustee  of  Forty-Fort  Cemetery  Asso- 
ciation, and  otherwise  interested  in  local 
business  affairs.  He  is  one  of  the  sub- 
stantial men  of  his  community,  and 
highly  esteemed  as  a  man  of  sound  judg- 
ment and  sterling  integrity.  He  is  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Masonic  order, 
belonging  to  Wyoming  Lodge,  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons ;  Shekinah  Chapter. 
Royal  Arch  Masons ;  Mount  Horeb  Coun- 
cil, Royal  and  Select  Masters;  Dieu  le 
Veut    Commandery,    Knights    Templar ; 


64 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


and  is  a  Noble  of  Irem  Temple,  Nobles  of 
the  Mystic  Shrine.  Politically  he  is  a 
Republican,  and  in  addition  to  being 
assistant  postmaster  and  postmaster  of 
Wyoming  from  1873  until  1885,  he  was 
the  first  elected  treasurer  of  the  borough. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  and  interested  in  all  good  works. 
No  worthy  cause  lacks  his  support  and 
his  friends  are  legion. 

Mr.  Schooley  married,  November  4, 
1884,  Minnie  E.  Steel,  born  October  12, 
1864,  daughter  of  Martin  and  Marie 
(Billings)  Steel.  They  the  parents  of 
two  sons:  Arthur  B.,  and  Allan  D. 
Schooley,  the  latter  born  July  9,  1890,  died 
August  18,  1892. 

Arthur  B.  Schooley  was  born  April  26, 
1886,  and  was  educated  at  the  Harry 
Hillman  Academy,  going  thence  after 
graduation  to  Lafayette  College,  then 
taking  a  business  course  at  Wyoming 
Seminary,  Kingston,  Pennsylvania.  After 
completing  his  student  career  he  entered 
the  employ  of  the  Wyoming  National 
Bank  of  Wilkes-Barre,  and  is  now  hold- 
ing the  position  of  teller.  He  married, 
June  2,  1914,  Olive  C.  Lewis;  they  the 
parents  of  a  son,  Jesse  B.  (3)  Schooley. 


LEHMAN,  Albert  C, 

Manufacturer. 

Prominent  among  the  younger  genera- 
tion of  manufacturers  and  business  men 
of  Pittsburgh  is  Albert  C.  Lehman,  pres- 
ident of  the  Blaw-Knox  Construction 
Company,  one  of  the  large  industries  of 
the  Pittsburgh  District.  Mr.  Lehman  is 
not  only  well-known  in  manufacturing 
circles,  but  is  active  in  all  that  makes  for 
the-  betterment  of  his  city. 

Moses  Lehman,  father  of  Albert  C. 
Lehman,  was  born  in  1849,  in  Frank- 
fort-on-Main,  Germany  son  of  Kalman 
Lehman.    He  came  to  Pittsburgh  in  1861, 


where  he  received  his  education  and  later 
entered  business,  as  a  wholesale  clothier, 
the  firm  name  being  Lehman  &  Kings- 
bacher.  Later  Moses  Lehman  became 
president  of  the  Blaw-Steel  Construction 
Company,  which  office  he  held  until  his 
death  in  1914.  In  politics,  Mr.  Lehman 
was  a  Republican,  and  he  was  also  a 
member  of  the  Rodef  Shalom  congrega- 
tion. Moses  Lehman  married  Fanny 
Frank,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland. 

Albert  C.  Lehman,  son  of  the  late 
Moses  and  Fanny  (Frank)  Lehman,  was 
born  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  Octo- 
ber 14,  1879.  He  received  his  education 
in  the  public  and  private  schools  of  Pitts- 
burgh, and  then  entered  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, graduating  with  the  class  of  1901. 
He  then  entered  the  wholesale  shoe  busi- 
ness, in  Pittsburgh,  the  firm  being  Dia- 
mondstone  &  Lehman.  In  1906  Mr.  Leh- 
man retired  from  this  field  to  become 
vice-president  and  general  manager  of 
the  Blaw  Steel  Construction  Company, 
and  in  1914  succeeded  to  the  presidency 
of  this  corporation.  In  1917  Mr.  Lehman 
became  president  of  the  Blaw-Knox  Com- 
pany, this  being  a  combination  of  the 
Blaw  Steel  Construction  Company  and 
the  Knox  Pressed  and  Welded  Steel 
Company. 

In  addition  to  the  presidency  of  the 
above  concern,  Mr.  Lehman  is  actively 
identified  as  an  official  and  stockholder 
with  various  other  enterprises.  He  is  a 
director  in  the  Ransome  Mixer  Company 
of  New  York,  director  in  the  Carpenter- 
Beale  Company,  Incorporated,  of  New 
York,  director  of  the  McWhirk  Engi- 
neering Company,  and  in  1912  helped 
organize  and  became  president  of  the 
Hoboken  Land  Campany.  In  politics, 
Mr.  Lehman  is  a  Republican,  but  has 
always  refused  office,  preferring  to  con- 
centrate his  energies  on  the  details  of  hi( 
many  offices.     Of  social  nature,  he  is  a 


65 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


member  of  Westmoreland  Country  Club, 
which  he  helped  organize  and  was  presi- 
dent of  for  the  first  four  years  of  its 
existence ;  member  of  the  Harvard  Club 
of  Pennsylvania ;  the  Plarvard  Club  of 
New  York ;  the  Friars  Club  of  New 
York;  the  Concordia  Club  of  Pitts- 
burgh, the  Army  and  Navy  Club  of  Pitts- 
burgh, a  member  of  Rodef  Shalom  con- 
gregation. 

Mr.  Lehman  married,  January  9,  1902, 
Seidie,  daughter  of  Charles  and  Caroline 
(Frank)  Adler,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lehman  are  the  parents  of 
a  son,  Murray  C,  born  August  5,  1905. 
Mrs.  Lehman  is  active  in  the  philan- 
thropic work  of  her  city,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Children's  Bureau,  and  a  direc- 
tor in  the  Hebrew  Aid  Society  of  Pitts- 
burgh. 

Albert  C.  Lehman  is  an  admirable  rep- 
resentative of  the  Pittsburgh  manufac- 
turer, inasmuch  as  in  his  character  and 
record  he  gives  evidence  of  the  vitalizing 
energy  and  spirit  of  progress  which  has 
ever  distinguished  the  Pittsburgh  man  of 
affairs,  and  it  is  by  men  of  this  type  that 
its  prestige  will  be  maintained  and 
increased  in  the  years  that  are  to  come. 

Charles  Adler,  father  of  Mrs.  Lehman, 
was  born  December  8,  1839,  in  a  little 
mountain  town  near  Cassel,  Germany, 
son  of  Simon  and  Lalchen  (Stern)  Adler. 
He  attended  the  public  schools  until  the 
age  of  fifteen,  when  he  came  to  America, 
arriving  in  Maryland  and  settling  in 
Montgomery  county,  where  he  conducted 
a  store  until  1864.  In  February,  1865, 
Mr.  Adler  went  to  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
and  entered  the  wholesale  shoe  house  of 
H.  Frank  &  Company,  when  the  name  of 
the  firm  was  changed  to  Frank  &  Adler, 
which  has  grown  to  one  of  the  large 
enterprises  of  Baltimore.  Mr.  Adler  mar- 
ried, February  19,  1865,  Caroline,  daugh- 
ter of   Henry   Frank,   of   Baltimore,   and 


their  children  were:  Simon  C,  Mrs. 
Robert  M.  Laupheimer,  Mrs.  Albert  C. 
Lehman,  as  above  stated ;  Harry,  and 
Blanche. 


VAN  DERMARK,  Welbon  W., 

Business   Man,   Agriculturalist. 

Although  all  his  life  a  business  man  and 
most  successful  in  his  undertakings,  Mr. 
Van  Dermark,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  also 
ranks  with  the  agriculturists  of  the 
Wyoming  Valley,  although  of  that  to  be 
envied  class  then  referred  to  as  "Gentle- 
man Farmers."  Yet  he  is  as  practical  in 
the  management  of  his  four  farms  as  of 
his  business,  his  pet  hobby — fine  Hol- 
stein  cattle — being  the  most  practical  of 
fads  as  they  are  the  foundation  of  the 
herds  that  make  his  a  model  dairy  farm. 
One  of  these  farms  is  the  old  Van  Der- 
mark homestead  in  Dorrance  township, 
Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  the  others 
adjoining.  Mr.  Van  Dermark  is  a  man  of 
energy  and  ability,  held  in  high  esteem 
by  his  business  associates,  friends  and 
acquaintances  of  a  lifetime.  His  life  has 
been  quietly  spent,  his  greatest  interest 
his  home  and  private  business  affairs. 

Mr.  Van  Dermark  is  of  an  ancient 
Dutch  family,  his  American  ancestor, 
Benjamin  Van  Dermark,  coming  from 
Holland  to  New  Amsterdam  (New  York) 
about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury (1740-1760).  From  New  York  he 
drifted  over  into  New  Jersey,  as  did  many 
Hollanders,  finally  making  settlement 
near  Princeton,  where  he  married  Sarah 
Brink,  and  they  are  the  founders  of  the 
branch  of  the  family  in  this  country. 
They  were  the  parents  of  Benjamin  (2), 
Brink,  Sarah,  John  and  Jeremiah.  Before 
Indian  troubles  were  over  they  were 
greatly  harassed  in  their  Jersey  home  and 
finally  moved  to  Eastern  Pennsylvania, 
Benjamin  obtaining  a  farm  on  the  banks 


66 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


of  the  Delaware,  which  with  his  sons  he 
cultivated  for  some  years.  Finally  the 
family  located  in  the  Wyoming  Valley, 
where  a  farm  was  purchased  in  Newport 
township,  Luzerne  county.  There  Ben- 
jamin (i)  Van  Dermark  ended  his  days, 
leaving  a  family  who  had  inherited  his 
love  of  the  soil,  being  farmers  in  each 
generation  down  to  the  present.  W.  W. 
Van  Dermark  turning  to  agriculture  after 
success  had  been  attained  in  the  business 
world. 

The  line  of  descent  in  this  branch  is 
through  the  eldest  son  of  the  founder, 
Benjamin  (2)  Van  Dermark,  a  substan- 
tial farmer,  and  of  deeply  religious  life. 
He  married  Margaret  Simms,  of  English 
parentage,  and  at  the  homestead  in  New- 
port township,  prayer  meetings  were 
often  held.  The  land  these  early  Van 
Dermarks  owned  were  underlaid  with 
rich  veins  of  anthracite  coal,  but  they 
tilled  the  surface,  perfectly  content,  know- 
ing nothing  of  the  riches  beneath  nor  did 
any  one  else  until  they  had  passed  out  of 
the  family  ownership.  Benjamin  (2)  and 
Margaret  (Simms)  Van  Dermark  were 
the  parents  of:  John,  Sarah,  Daniel, 
James,  David,  Simon,  Peter,  Elijah, 
Simms,  and  Moses,  his  love  for  the  Bible 
and  his  respect  for  Bible  characters 
showing  forth  in  the  names  given  his 
nine  sons,  the  only  daughter  being  given 
the  beautiful  name  of  Sarah,  signifying 
Princess,  that  being  the  name  borne  by 
the  wife  of  Abraham. 

The  line  of  descent  continues  through 
Moses,  youngest  of  the  sons  of  Benjamin 
(2)  Van  Dermark.  He  was  born  in  New- 
port township,  Luzerne  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  eventually  became  a  large 
landowner,  his  holdings  including  some 
of  the  richest  veins  of  anthracite  in  the 
Wyoming  Valley.  He  was  unaware  of 
these  coal  deposits  and  finally  disposed  of 
all  his   property,  going  to  the   State  of 


Indiana,  where  he  ended  his  days  in  peace 
.and  contentment,  tilling  his  own  acres 
as  he  had  done  in  Pennsylvania.  He  mar- 
ried, in  Newport,  Sallie  Cocher,  and  they 
were  the  parents  of  Simon  Peter,  Fred- 
erick, Wilson,  George  and  Jacob,  the  last 
named  the  father  of  Welbon  W.  Van  Der- 
mark, of  Wilkes-Barre. 

Jacob  Van  Dermark  was  born  in  New- 
port township,  Luzerne  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, in  1833,  died  in  1883.  He  was 
educated  in  the  district  schools,  and  was 
his  father's  farm  assistant  until  becom- 
ing of  age,  then  chose  for  himself  and 
for  some  time  followed  boating  on 
the  Susquehanna  river  during  the  open 
months  for  river  driving  of  logs  and  raft- 
ing of  lumber  to  down  river  markets. 
Later  he  became  interested  in  coal  min- 
ing, but  unfortunately  the  family  lands 
had  all  been  sold,  and  he  entered  the  serv- 
ice of  the  Lehigh  &  Wilkes-Barre  Coal 
Company  at  Wanamie,  refusing  to  accom- 
pany his  parents  to  Indiana.  He  was 
appointed  outside  superintendent  of  the 
company's  mines  at  Wanamie,  and  in 
that  position  continued  until  his  death  in 
1883,  at  the  age  of  fifty  years.  He  was 
a  man  of  strong  character,  and  rendered 
a  good  account  of  his  life.  He  married 
Frances  Russell,  and  they  were  the  par- 
ents of  Carrie,  married  C.  E.  Moore,  M. 
D.,  of  Alden,  Pennsylvania,  and  has  a 
son,  Charles  Moore ;  Josephine,  married 
Albert  Stair,  of  Alden,  and  has  five  sons ; 
Ruth,  married  C.  C.  Rosser,  superin- 
tendent of  the  Susquehanna  Lumber 
Company  of  Nanticoke,  Pennsylvania ; 
Welbon  W.,  and  Harvey  H. 

Welbon  W.  Van  Dermark,  son  of  Jacob 
and  Frances  (Russell)  Van  Dermark, 
was  born  in  Newport  township,  March 
23,  1865,  and  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools.  At  the  age  of  twelve  years  he 
began  working  at  the  coal  mines  and  so 
continued  for  five  years.    After  his  fath- 


67 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


er's  death,  in  1883,  he  left  the  mines,  and 
for  the  following  eleven  years  was  clerk 
in  the  general  store  of  the  Alden  Com- 
pany at  Alden.  He  then  resigned  and 
located  in  Wilkes-Barre,  which  has  since 
been  his  home  and  the  scene  of  his  busi- 
ness activity.  His  first  position  in 
Wilkes-Barre  was  with  Lazarus  &  Lang- 
feld,  as  clerk  in  their  department  store, 
but  later  and  until  1901  he  was  a  success- 
ful agent  for  the  Prudential  Life  Insur- 
ance Company.  This  was  the  last  posi- 
tion he  ever  held  under  another,  as  in 
August,  1901,  he  purchased  the  old 
Wilkes-Barre  Laundry  and  started  that 
company  on  a  career  of  unusual  pros- 
perity. The  business  in  time  outgrew  its 
quarters,  although  several  additions  had 
been  made,  and  in  1910  he  erected  a  spe- 
cially constructed  and  modernly  equipped 
building  for  its  reception  at  Nos.  362-368 
South  Main  street,  Wilkes-Barre.  The 
same  year  he  incorporated  the  business  as 
the  Wilkes-Barre  Laundry  Company,  W. 
W.  Van  Dermark,  secretary  and  treas- 
urer. The  business  continues  its  pros- 
perous career,  Mr.  Van  Dermark  dividing 
his  interest  between  his  business  and  his 
four  farms  in  Dorrance  township,  the 
homestead  of  eighty-two  acres,  and  three 
adjoining  tracts  of  one  hundred  and  two, 
forty  and  fifty  acres  each.  He  conducts 
these  as  a  general  dairy  farm,  his  cattle 
chiefly  highly  bred  Holsteins.  Every 
modern  improvement  in  dairy  farming 
and  dairying  is  installed  at  the  farms,  the 
reputation  of  the  products  of  the  herds 
being  very  high.  In  politics,  Mr.  Van 
Dermark  is  a  Republican,  a  member  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  church,  Wilkes- 
Barre,  but  his  home  was  his  club  and  his 
lodge,  and  there  he  was  content,  without 
club  nor  society  memberships. 

Mr.  Van  Dermark  married,  in  1897, 
Mary  F.  Rankin,  who  died  October  19, 
1916,  daughter  of  Joseph  Rankin,  of 
Wilkes-Barre. 


LAUCK,  John  E., 

Manufacturer. 

Prominent  among  the  manufacturers 
of  Pittsburgh  is  John  E.  Lauck,  general 
manager  and  director  of  the  McKeesport 
Tin  Plate  Company,  and  officially  con- 
nected with  various  other  enterprises. 

John  E.  Lauck  was  born  in  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  January  14, 1862,  son  of  Edwin 
and  Emma  (Nichols)  Lauck.  He  received 
his  early  education  in  the  schools  and  col- 
leges of  his  section,  and  his  first  employ- 
ment was  with  the  Adams  Express  Com- 
pany, Lexington,  Kentucky.  He  next 
spent  two  years  with  the  dry  goods  firm 
of  Appleton,  Lancaster  &  Duff,  and  four 
years  with  the  Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Rail- 
road Company,  being  advanced  during 
that  time  to  chief  clerk  and  cashier  of  the 
Lexington  office.  In  1887  he  left  Ken- 
tucky and  became  teller  of  the  Bank  of 
Wichita,  Kansas.  The  bank  which  was 
run  by  Kentucky  people,  was  afterwards 
reorganized  as  the  Fourth  National  Bank, 
Mr.  Lauck  being  elected  its  cashier, 
which  office  he  held  until  1890.  Return- 
ing then  to  Kentucky,  he  assisted  in  the 
organization  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Middlesborough,  and  the  Bank  of 
Cumberland  Gap,  Tennessee,  and  became 
interested  in  the  Middlesborough  Town 
and  Land  Company  and  the  American 
Association,  concerns  with  a  capital  of 
$22,000,000.00.  In  1892  Mr.  Lauck  re- 
turned to  his  old  home,  Lexington,  Ken- 
tucky, where  he  engaged  in  the  broker- 
age business,  and  invested  in  gas  prop- 
erty and  real  estate  in  Anderson  and 
Alexandria,  Indiana.  At  the  same  time 
he  became  interested  in  the  tin  plate  busi- 
ness at  Middleton,  Indiana,  and  upon 
leaving  there  came  to  Pittsburgh,  Penn- 
slyvania,  where  he  assumed  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Star  Tin  Plate  Works.  In 
1896  he  gave  up  this  position  and  became 
general    manager    of   the    United    States 


68 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Iron  and  Tin  Plate  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, at  McKeesport.  He  remained  with 
this  concern  until  January  i,  1902,  and 
during  this  time  doubled  the  capacity  of 
the  plant.  Mr.  Lauck  then  became  gen- 
eral manager  and  director  of  the  Mc- 
Keesport Tin  Plate  Company,  which 
offices  he  holds  to  the  present  time.  His 
initiative  and  ability  have  been  among 
the  causes  of  the  great  growth  of  this 
concern,  one  of  the  large  enterprises  of 
the  Pittsburgh  District.  His  training 
qualified  him  for  carrying  on  a  large  bus- 
iness enterprise,  and  his  close  application 
to  the  business  of  his  firm  has  given  him 
remarkable  success.  The  industry  which 
he  has  helped  build  up  is  of  great  value  in 
itself  and  of  relative  importance  in  the 
industrial  development  and  permanent 
prosperity  of  Pittsburgh.  A  man  of  sin- 
gularly strong  personality,  he  has  exerted 
a  deep  influence  on  his  associates  and  sub- 
ordinates, and  toward  the  latter  in  par- 
ticular his  conduct  has  ever  been  marked 
by  a  degree  of  kindness  and  consideration 
which  has  won  for  him  their  loyal  sup- 
port and  hearty  cooperation.  Force  and 
resolution,  combined  with  a  genial  dis- 
position, are  depicted  in  his  countenance, 
and  his  simple,  dignified  and  affable  man- 
ners attract  all  who  are  brought  into  con- 
tact with  him.  He  is  one  of  the  men  who 
number  friends  in  all  classes  of  society. 
Mr.  Lauck  is  also  a  director  of  the  Wash- 
ington Tin  Plate  Company;  member  of 
the  Oakmont  Country  Club,  the  Pitts- 
burgh Athletic  Association,  Field  Club, 
Pittsburgh  Country  Club  and  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Youghiogheny  Country  Club  ; 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  of 
the  Order  of  Elks.  In  politics  he  is  a 
Republican. 

On  September  25,  1886,  Mr.  Lauck 
married  Katherine,  daughter  of  David 
and  Mary  (Williams)  Clohesey,  of  Lex- 
ington, Kentucky,  and  they  are  the  par- 


ents of  two  daughters;  Katherine,  wife 
of  J.  S.  Lanahan,  of  Pittsburgh ;  and 
Mary  E.,  wife  of  Samuel  R.  Parke,  of 
Philadelphia. 

John  E.  Lauck's  career  may  be  summed 
up  in  one  word— success — the  result  of 
his  own  unaided  efforts.  He  furnishes  a 
true  picture  of  the  manufacturer,  one  who 
creates  and  adds  to  the  wealth  of  nations 
while  advancing  his  own  interests.  His 
record  is  one  that  will  endure. 


QUIN,  Robert  A., 

Mine   Operator. 

One  of  Pennsylvania's  sons,  whose 
energy  and  talent  have  been  devoted  to 
the  development  of  the  coal  mining 
industry,  Mr.  Quin  has  in  that  field 
reached  a  position  of  prominence,  as  this 
review  of  a  busy,  useful  life  will  show. 
He  is  a  son  of  Augustus  Quin,  born  in 
Berks  county,  Pennsylvania,  in  1831,  died 
in  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  in  1902.  He 
was  reared  on  a  Berks  county  farm,  but 
early  in  life  settled  in  Pottsville,  and 
there  resided  until  his  death,  a  contractor 
of  mason  work  and  plastering.  He  mar- 
ried, at  Pottsville,  Anne  Williams,  born 
in  1835,  died  in  1902,  they  the  parents  of 
William,  now  a  resident  of  Washington, 
D.  C. ;  J.  Harrison,  deceased,  of  Potts- 
ville ;  Margaret,  deceased,  wife  of  Sam- 
uel Dyer;  Robert  A.,  to  whom  this  review 
is  inscribed ;  Theodore,  of  Pottsville ; 
Susan,  married  Thomas  Birch,  of  Ches- 
ter, Pennsylvania;  Anna,  deceased. 

Robert  A.  Quin,  son  of  Augustus  and 
Anne  (Williams)  Quin,  was  born  in 
Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  January  17, 
1864,  and  there  passed  through  the  grade 
and  high  schools,  finishing  with  gradua- 
tion in  the  class  of  1881.  He  began  busi- 
ness life  as  junior  clerk  in  the  ofifices  of 
the  Pottsville  Iron  &  Steel  Company,  but 
very  shortly  after  left  the  office  employ 


69 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


of  the  company  to  enter  the  engineering 
corps  of  the  Lehigh  Valley  Coal  Com- 
pany at  Lost  Creek,  Pennsylvania,  where 
the  corps  was  then  operating.  He  re- 
mained with  that  corporation  four  years, 
then  located  in  Reading,  Pennsylvania, 
as  engineer  in  charge  of  the  field  work  A. 
Harvey  Tyson  was  conducting.  Later  he 
joined  the  Second  Geological  Survey  as  a 
member  of  the  engineering  corps,  and  for 
two  years  was  engaged  with  that  corps, 
having  his  headquarters  at  Scranton, 
Pennsylvania.  From  Scranton  he  was 
transferred  to  the  Pottsville  office,  there 
remaining  until  the  survey  was  com- 
pleted. With  the  severance  of  his  con- 
nection with  the  survey,  Mr.  Quin  became 
associated  with  A.  B.  Cochran  &  Sons, 
mining  engineers  of  Pottsville,  and  until 
January  i,  1898,  was  manager  in  charge 
of  their  field  work.  He  held  high  rank 
as  mining  engineer,  and  from  the  bottom 
every  step  upward  had  been  won  by  per- 
sonal merit,  hard  work,  and  persevering 
effort. 

With  his  retirement  from  the  employ 
of  Cochran  &  Sons,  January  1,  1898,  he 
began  his  efforts  in  another  field  of  oper- 
ation, the  management  of  coal  mining 
companies  as  superintendent.  While  from 
the  engineer's  standpoint  he  was  per- 
fectly familiar  with  coal  mines  and  min- 
ing, he  had  little  experience  as  a  produc- 
ing operator.  But  he  quickly  grasped  the 
points  unfamiliar  to  him,  and  from  the 
superintendency  of  the  Shipman  Coal 
Company,  af  Shamokin,  Pennsylvania,  he 
went  forward  to  great  position  and  higher 
honors.  On  April  15,  1S99,  he  was  ap- 
pointed superintendent  of  the  Susque- 
hanna Coal  Company,  William  Penn  Col- 
liery, going  thence  to  the  superintend- 
ency of  the  Mineral  Railroad  and  Mining 
Company,  now  a  constituent  company  of 
the  Susquehanna  Company  of  Shamokin. 
On  October  14,  1903,  he  was  promoted  to 


the  position  of  manager  of  the  Susque- 
hanna Coal  Company,  now  the  Susque- 
hanna Collieries  Company,  with  head- 
quarters at  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania. 
This  record  of  a  trifle  over  a  quarter 
of  a  century  as  a  manager  and  super- 
intendent of  coal  producing  properties 
is  a  most  creditable  one,  and  stamps 
Mr.  Quin  as  a  man  of  forceful  character 
and  strong  managerial  ability.  To 
achieve  reputation  as  a  skillful,  resource- 
ful engineer  is  the  work  of  a  life  time,  and 
to  attain  admission  to  the  ranks  of  suc- 
cessful mine  operators  many  men  have 
spent  their  active  lives.  Yet  Mr.  Quin 
has  accomplished  both  and  is  but  in  the 
prime  of  his  splendid  powers. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Mining  Engineers  and  the  Ameri- 
can Mining  Congress ;  member  of  the 
Wyoming  Historical  and  Geological  So- 
ciety ;  is  a  Republican  in  politics,  and  an 
attendant  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Wilkes-Barre.  His  fraternities 
are  the  Masonic  and  Odd  Fellows,  his 
clubs  the  Manufacturers  of  Philadelphia, 
the  Cresco  of  Shamokin,  the  Pottsville  of 
Pottsville,  the  Country,  Hazleton.  the 
Westmoreland,  Wyoming  Valley  and 
Franklin  of  Wilkes-Barre.  Genial,  cour- 
teous and  friendly  in  spirit,  he  makes 
many  friends,  and  in  all  circles  which  he 
touches  is  welcomed  and  honored. 

Mr.  Quin  married,  July  16,  1886,  Min- 
nie E.  Thickins  of  Shenandoah,  Pennsyl- 
vania they  the  parents  of :  1.  Herbert  T., 
born  in  Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  Febru- 
ary 26,  1888;  a  graduate  of  Harry  Hill- 
man  Academy  and  of  Lehigh  University, 
class  of  1912;  married  Louise  Stites, 
daughter  of  Dr.  G.  M.  Stites.  of  Williams- 
town,  Pennsylvania,  they  the  parents  of  a 
son,  Herbert  T.  (2).  2.  Margaret  C, 
born  April  7,  1890;  educated  at  Wilkes- 
Barre  Institute  and  Lady  Jane  Grey 
School   of    Binghamton,   New  York.     3. 


70 


0\$/.  $«>fL^U€>UA/ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Robert  D.,  born  February  15,  1893;  edu- 
cated at  Harry  Hillman  Academy,  Le- 
high University  and  Philadelphia  Tex- 
tile Schools.  4.  William,  born  October 
5,  1898;  educated  at  Harry  Hillman 
Academy,  Wilkes-Earre,  now  a  student  at 
Mercersburg  Preparatory  School,  Mer- 
cersburg,   Pennsylvania. 

This  review  of  the  life  work  of  an  earn- 
est man  of  energy  and  ability  reveals  the 
fact  that  his  way  has  been  won  fairly, 
without  the  aid  of  fortuitous  circum- 
stances or  governmental  favor  or  influ- 
ential friends  save  those  he  has  won  by 
an  honorable,  manly  course  in  his  upward 
journey.  He  has  been  the  architect  of 
his  own  fortunes,  and  he  may,  with  satis- 
faction, cast  a  retrospective  view  over  his 
past  life.  Sons  and  daughters  gladden  his 
life,  and  he  is  a  fine  type  of  the  success- 
ful American  business  man. 


SCHNEIDER,  Francis  Raymond, 
Steelmaster,  Inventor. 

The  supremacy  of  Pittsburgh  among 
the  industrial  cities  of  the  world  is  the 
supremacy  of  superior  brain-power,  and 
describing  a  man  as  a  leading  Pittsburgh 
manufacturer  is  equivalent  to  saying  that 
he  possesses  intelligence  of  a  high  order. 
A  man  of  this  type  is  Francis  Raymond 
Schneider,  for  over  twenty  years  super- 
intendent and  director  of  the  Superior 
Steel  Company,  which  position  he  held 
until  December,  1916,  resigning  after  the 
company  was  taken  over  by  the  Superior 
Steel  Corporation.  Mr.  Schneider  has 
gained  some  note  as  an  inventor. 

Francis  Raymond  Schneider  was  born 
November  29,  1857,  m  Old  Allegheny 
(now  North  Side,  Pittsburgh,  Pennsyl- 
vania), son  of  Anthony  and  Sophia 
(Hirtz)  Schneiderlochner.  He  received 
his  education  in  the  schools  of  his  city, 
and  his   first   employment  was  with   the 


firm  of  Carnegie,  Kloman  &  Company,  in 
1871,  as  pull-up  boy,  at  the  Twenty- 
ninth  street  mill.  He  had  not  been  work- 
ing long  before  he  chose  the  field  of  me- 
chanics as  his  occupation,  and  from  1874 
until  1879  he  learned  the  machinist's  and 
roll-turning  and  roll-designing  trade  at 
Carnegie,  Phipps  &  Company's  Thirty- 
third  street  mill.  During  1879  he  took 
charge  of  the  roll-turning  and  roll-design- 
ing at  the  Superior  Rail  Mill,  operated 
by  the  late  Andrew  Kloman.  In  1882, 
shortly  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Kloman,  he 
returned  to  the  Thirty-third  street  works 
of  Carnegie,  Phipps  &  Company,  as  de- 
signer of  rolls  and  head  turner,  under  the 
management  of  the  late  William  H.  Born- 
traeger,  remaining  in  that  position  until 
1892.  From  1892  to  1896  he  had  entire 
charge  of  the  roll-designing  and  roll- 
turning  of  the  famous  Homestead  Steel 
Works  of  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company, 
under  the  management  of  Charles  M. 
Schwab  during  that  period.  In  1896  Mr. 
Schneider  became  connected  with  the 
Superior  Steel  Company,  and  through 
rolls,  designed  by  him  for  the  hot-rolling 
of  material,  it  was  enabled  to  produce  a 
greater  range  of  sizes  from  a  standard- 
sized  billet  than  is  possible  to  obtain 
from  any  other  method  of  rolling.  The 
Superior  Steel  Company  (now  the  Su- 
perior Steel  Corporation),  is  one  of  the 
large  hot  and  cold  roll  strip  steel  con- 
cerns of  Pittsburgh,  having  a  large  plant 
at  Carnegie,  Pennsylvania,  and  is  equipped 
with  the  latest  methods  of  production.  A 
man  of  strong  personality,  he  has  exerted 
a  wonderful  influence  on  his  associates  and 
subordinates,  and  toward  the  latter  in  par- 
ticular his  conduct  has  ever  been  marked 
by  a  degree  of  kindness  and  consideration 
which  has  won  for  him  their  loyal  sup- 
port and  hearty  cooperation.  Force  and 
resolution,  combined  with  a  genial  dis- 
position, are  depicted  in  his  countenance, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


and  his  simple,  dignified  and  affable  man- 
ners attract  all  who  are  brought  into  con- 
tact with  him.  He  is  one  of  the  men  who 
number  friends  in  all  classes  of  society. 

Seldom  is  it  that  a  man  as  active  and 
successful  in  business  as  Mr.  Schneider 
takes  the  keen  and  helpful  interest  in 
civic  affairs  to  which  his  record  bears 
testimony.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Car- 
negie National  Bank,  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  Americus  Republi- 
can Club  and  the  Pittsburgh  Athletic 
Association.  In  politics  he  is  a  Republi- 
can, but  has  never  held  office.  A  man  of 
action  rather  than  words,  he  demon- 
strates his  public  spirit  by  actual  achieve- 
ments which  advance  the  prosperity  and 
wealth  of  the  community.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  St.  Philip's  Roman  Catholic 
Church  of  Crafton. 

On  November  30,  1882,  Mr.  Schneider 
married  Josephine,  daughter  of  the  late 
Joseph  and  Gertrude  (Hune)  Sohl,  of 
Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and  they  have 
been  the  parents  of  ten  children,  six  of 
whom  survive:  1.  Clara,  wife  of  Carl  J. 
Lutz,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  the  mother  of 
two  children :  Albert  F.,  born  October 
5,  1915,  and  Rosemarie.  2.  A.  Andrew, 
born  January  4,  1888,  graduate  of  Car- 
negie Technical  School,  Mechanical  En- 
gineer, unmarried.  3.  Lawrence  E.,  born 
November  9,  1889,  married  Hannah  Nora 
Grey,  and  father  of  two  children :  Fran- 
cis D.,  born  April  23,  1916,  and  Lawrence 
E.,  Jr.,  born  July  27,  1917.  4.  Edwin  J., 
born  August  6,  1899,  unmarried.  5.  Jose- 
phine M.,  unmarried.  6.  Leo  A.,  born 
November  13,  1903. 

Francis  R.  Schneider's  career  may  be 
summed  up  in  one  word — success — the 
result  of  his  own  unaided  efforts.  In  com- 
mon with  his  city,  he  seems  to  possess 
that  secret  of  perpetual  energy  which 
science  cannot  explain.  Happily  gifted 
in   manner,   disposition  and   taste,   enter- 


prising and  original  in  business  ideas, 
personally  liked  most  by  those  who  know 
him  best,  and  as  frank  in  declaring  his 
principles  as  he  is  sincere  in  maintaining 
them,  his  career  has  been  rounded  with 
success  and  marked  by  the  appreciation 
of  men  whose  good  opinion  is  best  worth 
having. 


WATSON.  William  L., 

Financier. 

Although  born  in  Scotland,  Mr.  Wat- 
son came  to  the  Wyoming  Valley  at  so 
early  an  age  that  his  recollection  em- 
braces no  other  home  than  Pittston, 
Pennsylvania.  There  he  was  educated, 
there  began  his  business  life,  and  there 
he  has  won  his  way  from  a  junior  clerk- 
ship through  succeeding  promotions  until 
reaching  the  presidency  of  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Pittston,  a  strong  financial 
institution  with  which  as  a  boy  and  man 
he  has  been  connected  for  forty-six  years 
as  clerk,  teller,  cashier,  vice-president  and 
president,  having  held  the  executive  office 
since  July  1,  1905.  Such  a  rise  in  position 
is  not  unknown  by  any  means,  but 
usually  influence  or  friendship  has  been 
responsible  in  some  degree,  but  President 
Watson  began  as  a  practical  stranger, 
and  every  promotion  was  based  upon 
merit.  He  filled  each  position  so  faith- 
fully and  well  that  he  was  always  the  log- 
ical candidate  for  the  next  highest  posi- 
tion in  which  there  was  a  vacancy.  He 
comes  of  an  honored  Scotch  family  of 
Dumfrieshire. 

William  Watson,  grandfather  of  Wil- 
liam L.  Watson,  of  Pittston,  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  born  in  Dumfrieshire,  and 
there  passed  his  years,  seventy-nine.  He 
was  a  smith  by  trade  and  until  incapaci- 
tated by  age  was  engaged  at  his  shop. 
He  married  Margaret  Crawford,  also  born 
in  Dumfrieshire.    They  were  members  of 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


the  Free  church  and  in  that  faith  reared 
their  seven  sons.  Their  home  was  in  the 
mining  village  of  Wanlockhead  in  the 
county  or  shire  of  Dumfries,  six  miles 
from  Sanquhar. 

It  was  at  Wanlockhead  that  their  son, 
James  Watson,  was  born,  educated,  and 
taught  his  father's  trade,  he  serving  the 
customary  old  country  apprenticeship  for 
seven  years.  He  worked  as  a  journey- 
man blacksmith  in  Scotland  until  1854, 
then  came  to  the  United  States,  locating 
at  Pittston,  Pennsylvania,  in  1855,  and 
there  resided  until  1894,  when  he  retired 
and  spent  the  last  two  years  of  his  life 
in  contented  ease.  During  this  entire 
period  in  Pittston,  forty-nine  years,  he 
was  connected  with  the  Pennsylvania 
Coal  Company,  in  various  capacities, 
being  foreman  for  a  number  of  years. 
Both  he  and  his  wife  were  members  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pitts- 
town.  His  wife,  Ann  (Law)  Watson, 
was  also  born  at  Wanlockhead,  Scotland, 
died  in  Pittston,  in  1900,  aged  seventy- 
four,  a  daughter  of  John  and  Jean  (Hark- 
ness)  Law.  James  and  Ann  (Law)  Wat- 
son were  the  parents  of  eight  children, 
seven  of  whom  arrived  at  mature  years, 
all  residents  of  Pittston:  William  L„ 
whose  useful  life  is  herein  reviewed ; 
Jean  W.,  married  John  W.  Thompson ; 
Margaret,  married  William  Allan;  Janet 
L. ;  John  A.,  an  engineer ;  Georgia  A. ; 
and  James  L.,  an  engineer. 

William  L.  Watson  was  born  in  Wan- 
lockhead, Dumfrieshire,  Scotland,  No- 
vember 6,  1850,  but  in  1854  was  brought 
to  the  United  States  by  his  parents, 
James  and  Ann  (Law)  Watson.  In 
1855,  Pittston  became  the  family  home 
and  there  William  L.  Watson  has  ever 
since  resided.  He  attended  the  public 
schools,  began  business  life  with  the 
Pennsylvania  Coal  Company,  but  after 
serving  that  corporation  four  years,  be- 


came bookkeeper  for  Law  &  McMillan, 
general  store  merchants,  remaining  with 
that  firm  until  1872.  This  brought  him  to 
the  age  of  twenty-two,  and  then  oppor- 
tunity knocked,  finding  the  young  man 
ready  and  waiting.  He  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Pitts- 
ton in  1872,  later  was  appointed  teller, 
finally  cashier,  an  important  post  he 
filled  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  1877- 
1902.  In  January,  1902,  he  was  elected 
vice-president,  and  in  July,  1905,  by  vote 
of  the  board  of  directors,  was  elevated  to 
the  presidency,  a  post  of  trust,  honor  and 
responsibility  he  was  amply  qualified  to 
fill,  as  the  years  have  proven.  The  years, 
forty-six,  spent  with  the  First  National 
Bank  have  been  years  of  mutual  benefit, 
and  while  no  man  may  regard  himself  as 
indispensable  in  the  scheme  of  life,  it  is 
hard  to  imagine  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Pittston  without  William  L.  Watson, 
and  equally  difficult  to  consider  William 
L.  Watson  apart  from  the  First  National 
Bank.  As  cashier  he  was  the  responsible 
head  of  the  bank's  policy,  and  made  few 
mistakes  in  his  estimates  of  the  reliabil- 
ity of  men  and  the  desirability  of  offered 
investments.  As  president  he  carries  for- 
ward along  the  lines  his  experience  as 
cashier  had  proved  wise,  and  the  First 
National  of  Pittston  is  one  of  the  strong 
financial  institutions  of  the  Wyoming 
Valley.  Other  corporations  in  which  Mr. 
Watson  has  taken  official  interest  are: 
The  Pittston  Gas  Company,  of  which  he 
was  secretary  many  years ;  The  New 
York  &  Pittston  Coal  Company,  a  cor- 
poration of  which  he  was  director  and 
treasurer,  and  until  the  sale  of  the  New 
Mexico  Railway  and  Coal  Company,  sold 
to  Phelps,  Dodge  &  Company,  he  was  a 
member  of  its  board  of  directors.  He 
is  also  director  of  the  Exeter  Machine 
Company,  Incorporated,  holding  the  same 
office  with  the  Kewanee  Telephone  Com- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


pany,  and  the  Stonewall  Iron  Company, 
of  Alabama.  But  his  chief  interest  is  and 
long  has  been  the  First  National  Bank 
of  Pittston.  A  member  and  treasurer  of 
the  Presbyterian  churches  of  Pittston  and 
West  Pittson,  and  to  both  a  tower  of 
strength,  he  served  on  the  building  com- 
mittee of  the  church  erected  in  1891  ;  was 
treasurer  of  the  building  committee  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
when  the  present  commodious  structure 
which  bears  the  association's  name  was 
erected,  and  for  many  years  its  treasurer, 
and  has  passed  the  chairs  of  Thistle 
Lodge,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows. 

Mr.  Watson  married  (first),  June  1, 
1876,  Jean  H.  Law,  born  in  Carbondale, 
Pennsylvania,  daughter  of  Andrew  H. 
and  Helen  (Aitken)  Law.  Mrs.  Watson 
died  June  8,  1908,  and  Mr.  Watson  mar- 
ried (second),  June  2,  1910,  Mary  Dem- 
ing  Strong,  daughter  of  Theodore  and 
Mary  (Benedict)  Strong,  of  West  Pitts- 
ton, Pennsylvania. 


STARK,  Joseph  Mallery, 

Financier,  Man  of  Affairs. 

Joseph  Mallery  Stark,  prominent  in  the 
financial  world  of  Luzerne  county,  vice- 
president  of  the  Dime  Deposit  Bank  of 
Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania,  and  a  suc- 
cessful business  man  in  this  region,  is  a 
member  of  an  old  family  which  was 
founded  in  this  country  early  in  the  Col- 
onial period. 

The  immigrant  ancestor  was  Aaron 
Starke,  who  was  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlers of  Connecticut,  and  served  under 
Captain  John  Mason  during  the  Pequot 
wars  in  1637.  We  find  his  name  in  the 
old  records  of  military  service  in  the  col- 
ony as  having  taken  part  in  the  Narra- 
gansett  War  of  1675  under  the  same  com- 
mander.   Aaron  Starke  resided  at  Mystic, 


which  was  the  eastern  part  of^the  town- 
ship of  New  London,  Connecticut,  as 
early  as  1653  i  m  I666  he  was  made  a 
freeman  at  Stonington,  while  in  1669  he 
became  freeman  at  New  London.  There 
were  a  number  of  men  of  this  name  in 
the  early  New  England  colony,  but  the 
spelling  was  exceedingly  lax  and  we  find 
it  under  such  forms  as  Start,  Stark  and 
Starke;- all  "of  which  have  persisted  in 
various  lines  of  descent.  Aaron  Starke 
had  much  to, do  with  church  affairs  dur- 
ing his  residence  at  Stonington,  and 
appears  to  have  been  prominent  in  many 
ways  in  the  community.  His  birth 
occurred  in  England,  in  the  year  1608,  but 
the  year  of  his  immigration  and  the  first 
place  of  his  settlement  in  the  colony  was 
uncertain.  He  died  at  New  London,  Con- 
necticut, in  1685,  and  was  the  father  of 
the  following  children :  Aaron,  born 
about  1654,  and  married  Mehitable  Shaw ; 
John,  born  about  1656;  William,  men- 
tioned below ;  Margaret,  who  became  the 
wife  of  John  Fish ;  and  Elizabeth,  who 
married  Josiah  Haynes. 

William  Stark,  son  of  Aaron  Starke, 
was  born  in  the  year  1664,  and  died  in 
1730.  He  was  reared  in  the  faith  of  the 
dominant  church  in  the  colony  (Congre- 
gational) but  later  became  a  Baptist,  and 
was  one  of  the  most  ardent  advocates  of 
its  teachings  and  a  deacon  of  the  church 
until  the  time  of  his  death.     He  married 

Elizabeth  ,  who  was  as  devoted  a 

worker  in  religious  matters  as  himself. 
and  they  were  the  parents  of  four  chil- 
dren, as  follows:  William,  born  at  Gro- 
ton,  Connecticut,  in  1687;  Christopher, 
mentioned  below ;  Daniel ;  and  Phebe, 
who  became  the  wife  of  Thomas  Wal- 
worth. 

Christopher  Stark,  son  of  William  and 
Elizabeth  Stark,  was  born  in  the  year 
1698,  at  Groton,  Connecticut,  and  died  at 
Wyoming,     Pennsylvania,     in     1776,     to 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


which  place  he  removed  later  in  life.  He 
was  one  of  the  earliest  purchasers  of  land 
in  the  Wyoming  Valley  from  the  Susque- 
hanna Land  Company  at  Hartford,  No- 
vember 20,  1754.  He  left  Connecticut 
not  long  after,  but  did  not  go  at  once 
to  his  new  property,  settling  for  a  time  at 
Beekman's  precinct,  Dutchess  county, 
New  York,  instead.  Here  he  remained 
until  1772-73,  when  he  removed  with  his 
three  sons,  to  whom  he  had  already 
deeded  his  property  in  Wyoming,  to  that 
place,  and  here  shared  with  the  other 
Connecticut  settlers  the  privations  of 
pioneer  life  in  the  wilderness  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  and  his  sons  joined  also,  in  the 
defense  of  home  and  property,  against  the 
Pennamite  authorities  and  were  among 
the  sufferers  in  the  terrible  Indian  mas- 
sacre of  July  3,  1778,  when  one  of  the 
sons,  Aaron,  fell  a  victim.  Christopher 
Stark  married  April  1,  1722,  at  Groton, 
Joanna  Walworth,  a  daughter  of  William 
and  Abigail  Walworth,  of  New  London, 
where  she  was  born  in  1691.  They  were 
the  parents  of  the  following  children:  1. 
Aaron,  born  November  3,   1732,  married 

Margaret  ,   and    was   slain   in   the 

Massacre  of  Wyoming,  July  3,  1778; 
after  the  massacre  his  wife  fled  with  her 
children  back  to  Connecticut,  but  when 
Sullivan  had  driven  the  Indians  from  the 
Wyoming  section,  some  of  her  children 
returned  to  Westmoreland  county  and 
founded  branches  of  the  family  here.  2. 
James,  mentioned  below.  3.  William, 
born  about  1747,  and  died  in  Orange 
county,  New  York,  in  1795  ;  he  married 
Polly  Carey,  and  lived  for  a  time  in  the 
Wyoming  Valley,  but  returned  to  Orange 
county,  where  he  left  a  large  family  of 
descendants.  Other  descendants  of  his 
remained  in  the  Wyoming  Valley. 

James  Stark,  son  of  Christopher  and 
Joanna  (Walworth)  Stark,  was  born  May 
22,  1734,  and  died  July  20,  1777.    He  mar- 


ried, in  1758,  Elizabeth  Carey,  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  Henry  Carey,  one  of  the  first 
Baptist  ministers  of  Dutchess  county, 
New  York.  The  life  of  James  Stark  fell 
on  troubless  times  and  he  was  one  of 
those  to  take  up  arms  in  the  call  of  Amer- 
ican independence  against  Great  Britain. 
He  entered  the  army  under  General 
Washington,  but  returned  not  long  after 
to  Wyoming  Valley,  where  his  death 
occurred  of  smallpox.  James  and  Eliza- 
beth (Carey)  Stark  were  the  parents  of  a 
number  of  children,  among  whom  were 
Henry,  mentioned  below ;  and  Samuel, 
born  October  8,  1771,  in  Dutchess  county, 
New  York,  married,  August  10,  1793, 
Polly  Birdsall,  who  bore  him  thirteen 
children,  and  died  September  30,  1840,  in 
Michigan. 

Henry  Stark,  son  of  James  and  Eliza- 
beth (Carey)  Stark,  was  born  April  19, 
1762,  in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  and  mar- 
ried, November  3,  1791,  Elizabeth  Ken- 
nedy. He  was  the  father  of  a  number  of 
children,  among  whom  was  John,  men- 
tioned below. 

John  Stark,  son  of  Henry  and  Eliza- 
beth (Kennedy)  Stark,  was  born  Janu- 
ary 4,  1795,  and  died  June  22,  1878.  He 
lived  in  the  Wyoming  Valley  and  was  a 
prominent  figure  there,  taking  an  active 
part  in  the  life  of  the  place.  He  married, 
November  4,  1815,  Cornelia  Wilcox,  born 
March  24,  1797,  died  May  11,  1884,  a 
daughter  of  Isaac  and  Nancy  (New- 
combe)  Wilcox,  and  they  were  the  par- 
ents of  the  following  children :  Hiram, 
born  February  9,  1817;  G.  W.  Dinsmore, 
born  April  16,  1818;  Elizabeth,  born  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1820,  died  November  17,  1852, 
married,  June  23,  1839,  Samuel  Billing; 
Nancy,  born  December  8,  1821,  became 
the  wife  of  Elijah  Conard ;  Jane,  born 
May  3,  1827,  married,  April  22,  1857,  Gar- 
rick  Mallery  Miller;  Henry,  born  Octo- 
ber  io,    1831 ;    Mary  Almeda,  born   Feb- 


75 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


ruary  16,  1833,  married,  April  26,  1855, 
Stephen  N.  Miller;  John  R.,  mentioned 
below;  and  Martha  W.,  who  became  the 
wife  of  Major  Oliver  J.  Parsons,  whom 
she  married  in  1865,  and  died  in  1904. 

John  R.  Stark,  youngest  son  of  John 
and  Cornelia  (Wilcox)  Stark,  was  born 
December  15,  1834,  at  Plains,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  died  there  October  17,  1901,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-seven  years.  He  received 
his  education  at  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  town,  and  resided  on  the  old  Stark 
property  at  Plains  throughout  his  entire 
life.  He  was  very  successful  in  his  pur- 
suit of  agricultural  occupations  and  was 
altogether  a  very  capable  business  man. 
He  was  a  Methodist  in  his  religious  belief, 
and  a  Republican  in  his  politics,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  local  public  affairs. 
Mr.  Stark  married  (first)  November  3, 
1863,  Phoebe  Jane  Swallow,  a  native  of 
Plainsville,  born  September  18,  1830,  a 
daughter  of  Joseph  and  Mary  (Cooper) 
Swallow.  They  were  the  parents  of  two 
children,  Joseph  Mallery,  with  whose 
career  we  are  especially  concerned,  and 
Cornelia  M.  Joseph  Swallow,  the  father 
of  Mrs.  John  R.  Stark,  was  born  July  7, 
1781,  at  Brick  Church,  New  Jersey,  and 
later  came  to  Plainsville,  where  he  engaged 
in  farming.  Mrs.  Stark  died  at  the  Stark 
residence,  December  6,  1875,  at  the  age  of 
forty-five  years,  and  her  remains  were 
interred  in  the  Hollenback  Cemetery. 
John  R.  Stark  married  (second),  June  6, 
1877,  at  Rockdale,  Pennsylvania,  Re- 
becca Wharram,  born  at  Plymouth,  Penn- 
sylvania, May  26,  1842,  a  daughter  of 
Emanuel  and  Charlotte  (Evans)  Whar- 
ram, also  of  Plymouth.  Emanuel  Whar- 
ram was  of  English  descent,  and  came 
from  North  Berton,  Yorkshire,  England, 
in  the  year  1830. 

Joseph  Mallery  Stark,  only  son  of  John 
R.  and  Phoebe  Jane  (Swallow)  Stark, 
was    born    August    28,    1868,    at    Plains, 


Pennsylvania.  His  childhood  was  spent  I 
in  his  native  town,  and  it  was  there  that 
he  gained  the  elementary  portion  of  his 
education,  attending  for  this  purpose  the 
local  public  schools.  He  afterwards 
entered  Wyoming  Seminary  at  Kingston, 
Pennsylvania,  and  after  completing  his 
studies  at  this  institution  secured  a  cleri- 
cal position  with  the  Delaware  &  Hudson 
Company,  and  worked  in  the  office  of  this 
concern  at  Plains  for  a  period  of  some  six 
years.  He  was  very  anxious  to  be  inde- 
pendent in  his  business  and  accordingly, 
as  soon  as  it  was  possible,  embarked  in 
a  general  mercantile  enterprise  at  Hud- 
son, Pennsylvania,  where  he  remained  for 
twelve  years  and  won  a  notable  success. 
At  the  end  of  this  period  he  disposed  of 
his  business  there  and  gave  his  entire 
attention  to  the  mining  operation  in 
which  he  had  become  interested  some 
time  before.  During  this  time,  however, 
he  had  been  very  active  with  local  pub- 
lic affairs  and  had  made  himself  well 
known  to  the  community  generally,  espe- 
cially in  connection  with  local  politics. 
He  served  as  postmaster  at  Hudson  for 
ten  years,  being  first  man  appointed  by 
President  McKinley,  and  during  this 
service  did  much  to  improve  and  develop 
that  important  office.  While  still  engaged 
in  the  mercantile  business,  Mr.  Stark 
became  interested  in  the  mining  industry, 
which  was  then  in  the  period  of  its  most 
rapid  development,  and  about  1900  opened 
the  slope  on  the  old  Stark  estate  which 
he  continued  to  operate  until  1912,  when 
he  disposed  of  his  interests  to  some  Phil- 
adelphia capitalists.  Since  that  time  Mr. 
Stark  has  devoted  himself  to  banking  and 
other  business  affairs,  and  in  1916  was 
elected  vice-president  of  the  Dime  De- 
posit Bank,  a  position  which  he  holds  at 
the  present  time.  He  is  also  president  of 
the  Kitsee  Battery  and  the  Standard  Top 
Company,  both  of  Wilkes-Barre.     He  is 


76 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


also  a  prominent  figure  in  the  social  and 
fraternal  circles  here,  and  is  a  member  of 
Landmark  Lodge,  No.  442,  Free  and  Ac- 
cepted Masons,  and  of  the  Westmoreland 
and  Craftsman's  clubs.  In  his  religious 
belief  he  is  a  Methodist  and  attends  the 
church  of  this  denomination  at  Plains. 

Joseph  Mallery  Stark  was  united  in 
marriage,  June  25,  1891,  at  Bradford 
county,  Pennsylvania,  with  Elizabeth  A. 
Stewart,  a  daughter  of  Charles  L.  and 
Sarah  L.  (Billings)  Stewart.  Charles  L. 
Stewart  was  a  prominent  citizen  of  Brad- 
ford county,  and  had  been  engaged  in  a 
variety  of  business  pursuits  there  ever 
since  the  Civil  War,  in  which  he  served. 


HEYER,  Edward  G.,  M.  D., 

Physician,  Surgeon. 

IWhen  a  child,  John  G.  Heyer  was 
brought  to  the  United  States  from  Ger- 
many, and  at  Hazleton,  Pennsylvania,  has 
passed  the  years  which  have  since  inter- 
vened. There  his  son,  Dr.  Edward  G. 
Heyer,  was  born,  and  from  there  went 
out  to  his  present  responsible  station  as 
superintendent  of  the  State  Hospital  of 
Nanticoke. 

The  father,  John  G.  Heyer,  came  to 
Hazleton  directly  from  New  York  City, 
the  landing  place,  and  was  taken  into 
the  home  of  a  friend  of  the  family.  After 
attendance  at  public  schools  he  became 
an  apprentice  to  the  blacksmith's  trade, 
under  Philip  Lindenman,  completing  a 
full  term  and  becoming  a  skilled  worker 
in  metals.  In  time  he  rose  from  journey- 
man to  shop  proprietor,  and  yet  continues 
in  business  at  Hazleton,  successful  and 
contented.  He  is  a  Republican  in  poli- 
tics, a  Lutheran  in  religious  faith,  and 
a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Malta. 
He  married  Sophia  Krapf,  daughter  of 
George  and  Elizabeth  (Bergman)  Krapf, 
one  of  Hazleton's  pioneer  settlers.     Mr. 


and  Mrs.  Heyer  are  the  parents  of:  Au- 
gusta, deceased ;  Edward  G.,  of  further 
mention;  and  Fred  W.,  an  M.  D.,  prac- 
ticing his  profession  now  in  Evacuation 
Hospital,  No.  3,  France ;  was  graduated 
in  1912  from  the  Medico-Chirurgical  Col- 
lege, Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  and- 
was  assistant  to  his  brother  in  the  State 
Hospital  of  Nanticoke,  Pennsylvania,  for 
five  years  prior  to  entering  the  Govern- 
ment service. 

Dr.  Edward  G.  Heyer  was  born  in 
Hazleton,  Pennsylvania,  December  26, 
1882,  and  there  completed  full  public 
school  courses.  He  entered  business  life 
as  a  member  of  the  firm,  Krapf  Brothers 
&  Company,  hardware  merchants  of 
Hazleton,  and  as  an  active  partner  in  that 
business  continued  for  five  years.  He 
then  withdrew  from  business  life  and 
began  the  study  of  medicine,  entering  the 
Medico-Chirurgical  College,  Philadelphia, 
in  1906,  receiving  his  degree  M.  D.  four 
years  later  with  the  graduating  class  of 
1910.  He  at  once  secured  a  position  as 
interne  at  the  State  Hospital,  Hazleton, 
continuing  in  that  relation  for  one  year, 
then  advancing  to  the  position  of  assist- 
ant surgeon  under  Dr.  Lathrop.  He  con- 
tinued as  Dr.  Lathrop's  assistant  until 
April  2,  1914,  when  he  was  appointed 
superintendent  and  surgeon  to  the  State 
Plospital  of  Nanticoke,  a  position  he  has 
ably  filled  and  yet  retains. 

Dr.  Heyer  is  one  of  the  men  who  have 
had  his  dreams  of  a  future  come  true. 
From  boyhood  he  had  a  desire  and  an 
ambition  to  become  a  physician  and  sur- 
geon, and  while  for  a  time  his  way  led 
along  mercantile  lines,  the  ambition  never 
weakened,  and  when  finally  the  way 
opened  he  seized  the  opportunity,  and  at 
the  age  of  twenty-seven  received  the  cov- 
eted M.  D.  His  advance  in  rank  has 
been  rapid,  he  being  but  thirty-one  when 
appointed    superintendent    of    the    State 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Hospital  of  Nanticoke,  and  since  assum- 
ing the  responsibilities  of  that  position 
has  added  to  his  reputation  as  physician 
and  surgeon,  that  of  a  capable,  executive 
manager.  Since  becoming  superintendent 
the  capacity  of  the  hospital  has  been 
doubled  through  the  erection  of  two  addi- 
tions, seventy  beds  now  being  available 
for  patients,  and  the  entire  equipment  of 
the  hospital  has  been  modernized.  Four 
hundred  patients  were  cared  for  in  1914, 
while  the  report  for  the  last  year,  1917, 
showed  that  between  sixteen  and  seven- 
teen hundred  sufferers  were  treated  in 
the  enlarged  quarters.  The  success  Dr. 
Hyer  has  achieved  in  his  profession  comes 
not  alone  through  his  acknowledged 
skill  as  physician  and  surgeon,  but  a 
great  aid  is  his  intense  devotion  to  his 
profession  and  his  deeply  sympathetic 
nature.  He  has  won  particularly  high 
reputation  in  his  section  as  a  surgeon, 
and  holds  the  high  regard  of  all  who  are 
associated  with  him.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  the 
Pennsylvania  State  Medical  Society,  Lu- 
zerne County  Medical  Society,  and  the 
Lehigh  Valley  Medical  Society,  and 
through  the  medium  of  these  associations 
of  medical  men  he  keeps  in  touch  with 
all  advance  in  medicine  or  surgery.  He  is 
a  member  of  Nanticoke  Lodge,  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons ;  and  Bloomsburg  Con- 
sistory, Ancient  Accepted  Scottish  Rite. 
Dr.  Heyer  married,  June  27,  1910,  Har- 
riet C.  Mayer,  born  February  10,  1884, 
daughter  of  John  L.  Mayer,  of  Lakewood. 
New  Jersey. 


SHOEMAKER.  Samuel  R., 

Business  Man,  Agriculturalist. 

When  Michael  Shoemaker  left  his  Ger- 
man home  and  sought  a  location  in  the 
New  World  he  chose  lands  near  Easton, 
Pennsylvania,  and  there  settled  early  in 


the  nineteenth  century.  His  son,  Isaac 
Shoemaker,  settled  in  the  Wyoming  Val- 
ley, coming  thence  from  Northampton 
county,  the  original  family  seat.  Isaac 
Shoemaker  had  a  son,  Jacob  I.  Shoe- 
maker, who  moved  to  New  York  State, 
where  he  learned  the  saddler's  trade. 
Later  he  returned  to  Wyoming,  there 
purchasing  a  farm  and  conducting  Shoe- 
maker's Hotel  (later  known  as  the  Pol- 
lock House).  Jacob  I.  Shoemaker  was 
the  father  of  Isaac  C.  Shoemaker,  who 
was  for  years  his  father's  business  asso- 
ciate, they  owning  the  woolen  factory 
built  by  Benjamin  Carpenter  in  1780,  and 
a  grist  mill.  The  locality  at  the  lower 
end  of  the  Gorge,  where  Abrams  creek 
breaks  through  the  Kingston  Mountain, 
was  first  known  as  Carpenter  Mills,  but 
later  as  Shoemaker's  Mills.  The  family 
was  influential  and  substantial,  having 
large  and  varied  business  interests  which 
were  well  managed.  Isaac  C.  Shoemaker 
married  Catherine  Shoemaker,  they  the 
parents  of  Samuel  R.  Shoemaker,  to 
whose  memory  this  review  is  dedicated. 
Samuel  R.  Shoemaker  was  born  in 
Wyoming,  Pennsylvania,  May  1,  1841, 
and  there  died  May  2,  1901.  He  grew  to 
manhood  at  the  home  farm,  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  and  Wyoming  Sem- 
inary, and  upon  reaching  legal  age  was 
admitted  to  a  partnership  with  his  father 
and  brother,  they  henceforth  operating  as 
I.  C.  Shoemaker  &  Sons.  The  firm 
owned  and  operated  a  large  milling  plant 
known  as  the  Shoemaker's  Steam  Grist 
Mills,  and  were  also  engaged  in  manu- 
facturing cloth  at  the  Wyoming  Woolen 
Mill,  which  they  owned.  In  addition, 
they  owned  and  cultivated  a  large  farm. 
The  firm  operated  their  varied  enterprises 
very  successfully  until  January  18,  1875, 
when  the  death  of  the  father,  Isaac  C. 
Shoemaker,  brought  about  a  reorganiza- 
tion, the  sons  continuing  as  Isaac  Shoe- 


C2^y?<$£^£ 


0-CtsCCGyfl 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


maker's  Sons.  They  continued  along  the 
same  lines  until  1881,  when  Samuel  R. 
sold  his  interest  in  the  business  to  his 
brother,  Jacob  I.  (2)  Shoemaker,  and 
thenceforth  devoted  himself  to  the  culti- 
vation of  his  half  of  the  homestead  farm. 
That  was  in  1881  and  for  the  succeeding 
twenty  years  he  lived  the  quiet  life  of  the 
farm,  its  improvement  and  management 
completely  satisfying  his  ambition,  for 
he  loved  the  old  farm,  and  in  his  home  life 
found  his  greatest  joy.  During  those 
years  he  traveled  a  great  deal  both  at 
Home  and  abroad,  but  was  always  accom- 
panied by  his  family. 

He  was  most  friendly  and  cordial  in 
disposition,  and  greatly  enjoyed  social 
intercourse  with  friends.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  Valley  Lodge,  No.  499,  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons,  of  Pittston,  being  one 
of  the  honored  past  masters  of  that 
lodge  ;  he  was  also  a  member  of  Chapter, 
Council  and  Commandery  of  the  Masonic 
order,  and  was  held  in  the  highest  esteem 
by  his  brethren.  He  belonged  to  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  to  the 
Knights  of  Honor,  and  the  Royal  Ar- 
canum ;  was  secretary  of  the  Luzerne 
County  Agricultural  Society  in  1891,  and 
held  the  same  position  with  the  Wyom- 
ing Cemetery  Association.  Both  he  and 
his  wife  were  attendants  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church  of  Wyoming. 

Mr.  Shoemaker  married,  January  7, 
1868,  Jennie  Carver,  daughter  of  Rufus 
and  Nancy  (Harding)  Carver.  Mrs. 
Shoemaker  survives  her  husband  and 
continues  her  residence  at  Wyoming. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Shoemaker  were  the  par- 
ents of  a  son,  Archie  C.  Shoemaker,  D. 
D.  S..  born  August  18,  1869;  and  of  a 
daughter,  Amy  E.,  born  February  17, 
1871,  died  August  28,  1872. 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted 
by  Valley  Lodge,  Free  and  Accepted  Ma- 
sons, in  honor  of  the  memory  of  their 
fallen  brother  and  past  master: 


In  fraternal  memory  of  Brother  Samuel  R. 
Shoemaker,  who  was  suddenly  called  from  labor, 
May  2,  i goi.  In  his  death  his  family  lost  a  kind 
husband  and  father;  the  Masonic  fraternity  in 
general  miss  from  their  ranks  a  member  whose 
daily  walk  and  conversation  could  but  reflect 
credit  to  the  craft  and  honor  to  his  fellowmen ; 
the  community  in  which  our  brother  lived  loses 
an  exemplary  citizen.  He  was  in  the  true  sense 
a  manly  man,  and  consequently  a  good  Mason. 
In  humble  submission  we  bow  to  the  mandate  of 
the  Grand  Master  of  the  Universe,  and  hereby 
extend  to  the  bereaved  family  of  our  brother  our 
sincere  sympathy,  knowing  that  words  at  this 
time,  when  the  heart  is  full  of  sorrow,  seem  cold 
and  cheerless,  but  commend  you  to  the  source  of 
all  comfort.  He  who  is  too  wise  to  err,  and  too 
good  to  be  unkind. 

The  honorable,  upright  life  of  our  deceased 
brother  is  a  precious  legacy  to  his  family,  and  to 
the  Masonic  order.  May  we  all  emulate  his  ex- 
ample and  remember  that: 

So  should  we  all  live,  that  every  hour, 
May  fall  as  falls  the  natural  flower, 
A  self-reviving  thing  of  power; 
That  every  thought  and  every  deed, 
May  hold  within  itself  the  seed 
Of  future  good  and  future  need. 

Resolved :  That  this  tribute  of  respect  be  spread 
upon  the  minutes  and  a  copy  suitably  engrossed 
be  presented  to  his  family. 

F.  Wilbur  Kyte, 
Charles  Schumacher, 
Charles  H.  Memory, 

Committee. 


CASSELBERRY,  Harry  Brundage,  M.D. 

Physician,  Public  Official. 

In  the  city  of  Hazleton,  two  doctors 
bearing  the  name  of  Casselberry  have  been 
distinguished  members  of  the  medical 
profession,  Dr.  Jesse  R.  Casselberry,  a 
graduate  of  Jefferson  Medical  College, 
class  of  "56,"  and  his  son,  Harry  Brundage 
Casselberry,  a  graduate  of  the  same  insti- 
tution, class  of  "86."  The  father  special- 
ized in  surgery,  the  son  after  special 
preparation  at  home  and  abroad  choosing 
as  his  special  line  of  practice  diseases  of 
the  eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat.  The  father 
has  long  been  gathered  to  his  reward, 
dying  in  October,  1892 ;  the  son  pursuing 


79 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


a  brilliant  professional  career  and  attain- 
ing eminence  as  a  citizen,  his  useful  life 
ending  March  29,  1816.  Dr.  Harry  B. 
Casselberry  was  one  of  the  most  versa- 
tile of  men,  and  had  he  not  elected  the 
medical  profession  as  his  life  work,  would 
have  attained  high  literary  honors.  Even 
amid  the  cares  of  an  exacting  profession 
many  able  articles  on  medical  and  other 
subjects  emanated  from  his  pen,  and  for 
years  his  musical  and  dramatic  critiques, 
written  over  the  signature  "The  Man 
with  the  Opera  Glass,"  were  leading  fea- 
tures of  the  "Philadelphia  Press"  and 
"Hazleton  Sentinel,"  he  being  the  dram- 
atic critic  for  both  journals.  He  was  also 
staff  correspondent  for  a  number  of  musi- 
cal publications,  and  was  a  most  enter- 
taining as  well  as  a  fair-minded  critic.  He 
could  also  have  gone  far  in  political  life 
had  he  so  desired,  but  he  forbade  the  use 
of  his  name  for  State  Senator,  he  being  a 
politician  without  any  desire  for  public 
office.  He  was  a  lineal  descendant  of 
Captain  Israel  Brundage.  through  his 
mother,  Amanda  (Brundage)  Cassel- 
berry, daughter  of  Moses  S.  and  Jane 
(Brodhead)  Brundage,  and  a  grand- 
daughter of  Captain  Israel  Brundage, 
who  came  from  England  prior  to  the 
Revolution,  settled  in  New  Jersey,  and 
gained  a  captain's  commission  in  the 
Continental  Army.  The  Casselberrys  are 
an  old  Pennsylvania  family,  Richard  Cas- 
selberry, father  of  Dr.  Jesse  R.  Cassel- 
berry, being  a  native  son  of  Pottstown, 
Pennsylvania,  his  wife,  Elizabeth  (Mil- 
ler) Casselberry,  living  to  the  great  age 
of  ninety-four  years. 

Dr.  Jesse  Roberts  Casselberry,  born  at 
Pottstown,  Pennsylvania,  died  at  Hazle- 
ton, Pennsylvania,  in  October,  1892. 
After  receiving  his  degree  from  Jefferson 
Medical  College  in  1856,  he  located  in  the 
village  of  Conyngham,  there  practicing 
until  1875.  In  that  year  he  moved  to 
Hazleton,   and   there   practiced   until   his 


death,  specializing  in  surgery.  He  was 
one  of  the  founders,  and  a  director  of  the 
Hazleton  Gas  Company,  a  trustee  of  the 
Presbyterian  church,  a  member  of  the 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons  and  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  mar- 
ried, February  21,  1862,  Amanda  Brun- 
dage, born  in  Conyngham,  died  in  Hazle- 
ton, December  4,  1875,  daughter  of 
Moses  S.  and  Jane  (Brodhead)  Brundage. 
Dr.  Harry  Brundage  Casselberry  was 
born  in  Conyngham,  Luzerne  county, 
Pennsylvania,  December  19,  1863,  died 
en  route  from  Palm  Beach,  Florida,  to 
his  home  in  Hazleton,  Pennsylvania, 
March  29,  1916.  He  attended  the  vil- 
lage public  school  until  1875,  when  his 
parents  moved  to  Hazleton,  where  he 
continued  high  school  study  until  1880. 
He  then  spent  a  year  at  Williston  Semin- 
ary at  Easthampton,  Massachusetts, 
there  preparing  for  Lafayette  College, 
which  institution  he  entered  in  1881,  pur- 
suing the  scientific  course.  After  gradu- 
ation he  began  the  study  of  medicine,  reg- 
istering in  his  father  office.  Later  he  was 
a  student  at  Jefferson  Medical  College, 
his  father's  alma  mater,  and  on  April  2, 

1886,  he  was  graduated  M.  D.  from  that 
institution.  He  had  devoted  special  atten- 
tion to  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose  and 
throat,  and  after  leaving  college  he  con- 
tinued his  studies  in  these  diseases  in  the 
Philadelphia  Hospital.     In  the  spring  of 

1887,  he  went  abroad  to  avail  himself  of 
the  advantage  foreign  institutions  offered, 
and  in  Berlin  studied  under  Professors 
Schweiger  and  Hirschberg  of  the  Fred- 
reichs  Wilhelm  University,  eminent  spe- 
cialists connected  with  the  University. 
Afterward  he  spent  several  months  in 
similar  study  in  London,  at  St.  Mary's 
College  Hospital,  under  Professors  Juler 
and  Critchilt,  then  returned  to  Hazleton 
and  practiced  most  successfully  as  a  spe- 
cialist until  his  death. 

Although  eminent  in  his  profession  and 


80 


W  &&JuULA*j*L, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


head  of  a  large  practice,  Dr.  Casselberry 
had  important  business  interests,  serving 
as  a  director  of  the  Hazleton  National 
Bank,  Hazleton  Gas  Company,  Hazleton 
Regalia  Company  and  the  Midland  Street 
Railway  Company.  He  was  an  ardent 
Republican,  serving  as  a  member  of  the 
county  central  committee,  and  sitting  in 
many  city,  district  and  State  conventions. 
When  Hazleton  became  a  city  in  1892, 
he  was  nominated  by  the  Republicans, 
and  endorsed  by  the  Democrats  of  the 
Eigth  Ward  for  Select  Council.  That 
body  was  organized  April  4,  1892,  and  Dr. 
Casselberry,  the  youngest  member,  was 
chosen  president,  an  office  to  which  he 
was  annually  elected  as  long  as  he  re- 
mained a  member  of  Select  Council,  eight 
years.  This  was  the  only  office  he  would 
ever  accept,  but  any  post  within  the  gift 
of  the  city  could  have  been  his. 

While  a  student  abroad,  he  saw  a  great 
deal  of  Europe,  and  in  after  life  continued 
that  acquaintance,  travel  being  one  of  his 
passions.  His  last  trip  abroad  carried 
him  to  Egypt,  in  order  to  pursue  scien- 
tific studies  in  geology.  This  was  in 
1900,  but  he  was  forced  to  return  to  the 
United  States  before  his  researches  were 
completed.  At  various  times  he  visited 
nearly  every  quarter  of  the  World,  his 
store  of  knowledge  being  greatly  added 
to  by  his  journeyings.  Many  of  his  writ- 
ings were  upon  travel  subjects,  and  all 
his  literary  work  bore  the  mark  of  that 
culture  and  polish  travel  alone  can  give. 
His  literary  talent  was  undoubted  and  he 
occupied  an  assured  position  among  men 
of  letters.  Musical  and  dramatic  criti- 
cism was  his  specialty,  and  the  both  praised 
and  condemned  artists  and  their  work 
with  rare  discrimination  and  fairness. 
His  patriotic  ancestry  gained  him  admis- 
sion to  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, and  on  his  own  merits  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,    the    Patriotic    Order    Sons    of 


America,  and  the  Junior  Order  of  Amer- 
ican Mechanics.  While  at  Williston  Sem- 
inary, he  with  six  other  students  founded 
the  fraternity,  "Iota  Zeta,"  now  a  popu- 
lar preparatory  school  order.  In  1886, 
the  first  annual  reunion  of  the  order  was 
held  in  New  York  City,  Dr.  Casselberry 
being  elected  Grand  President  of  the 
Alumni  lodges.  His  college  fraternity 
was  Theta  Delta  Chi.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Luzerne  County  and  Pennsyl- 
vania State  Medical  societies. 

Dr.  Casselberry  married,  June  29,  1898, 
Marie  Leigh  Johns,  daughter  of  George 
and  Ann  (Evans)  Johns,  of  Hazleton,  her 
father  a  prominent  coal  operator  of  that 
district. 


SHEEDER,  Vincent  Bayard, 

Merchant. 

As  merchant  and  business  man,  Mr. 
Sheeder  is  well  and  favorably  known  to 
the  business  world,  while  as  citizen  his 
reputation  is  very  high.  He  is  known  far 
and  near  as  a  man  of  highest  integrity, 
and  numbers  his  friends  wherever  known. 
He  has  won  abundant  success  through 
energy,  perseverance,  and  intelligently 
directed  effort.  His  position  in  his  com- 
munity has  been  fairly  earned,  and  in  all 
that  goes  to  make  the  sum  total  of  an 
American  man  of  affairs,  Mr.  Sheeder 
stands  with  the  most  worthy.  He  is  a 
descendant  of  Henry  Sheeder,  born  in 
Nassau,  Saarbrucen,  Germany,  October 
23>  l745>  died  December  2,  1807,  who 
married,  August  16,  1774,  Dorothea  Hel- 
fenstine,  born  May  24,  1741,  died  August 
17,  1823.  They  continued  their  residence 
in  Germany  many  years.  Their  children 
were  as  follows :  Caroline,  Frederick, 
Catherine,  Henry,  Philip  and  Louisa,  all 
born  in  Germany.  In  1793,  Henry 
Sheeder  with  his  family  arrived  in  Phil- 
adelphia, Pennsylvania,  the  exact  date, 
November  26. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Frederick  Sheeder,  eldest  son  of  Henry 
and  Dorothea  (Helfenstine)  Sheeder,  was 
born  in  Germany,  February  20,  1777, 
died  in  West  Vincent  township,  Chester 
county,  Pennsylvania,  September  18, 
1865.  He  became  a  merchant  tailor  of 
Philadelphia,  after  the  arrival  there  in 
1793,  and  was  acquainted  with  President 
Washington.  Later  in  life  he  moved  to 
Chester  county,  where  he  was  a  pioneer 
paper  manufacturer,  also  conducted  a  saw 
mill,  and  there  spent  many  of  the  last 
years  of  his  long  life.  He  was  a  wide 
reader  and  a  close  observer  of  men,  and 
kept  in  close  touch  with  current  events 
until  the  end.  In  1846.  he  wrote  a  his- 
tory of  West  Vincent  township,  and  was 
an  authority  on  local  history.  During  the 
War  of  1812,  he  joined  the  American 
Army,  and  was  on  duty  at  Marcus  Hook. 
He  married,  March  17,  1798,  Anna  Hal- 
deman,  born  November  6,  1778,  died  July 
29,  i860,  daughter  of  Nicholas  Halde- 
man.  In  March,  i860,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Sheeder  celebrated  the  sixty-third  anni- 
versary of  their  wedding  day,  the  occa- 
sion being  one  of  exceeding  interest  to 
the  entire  community.  In  addition  to  his 
farming,  Air.  Sheeder  erected  many  barns 
and  dwellings  on  his  own  and  other 
farms.  Frederick  and  Anna  Sheeder  were 
the  parents  of  sons  and  daughters :  Fred- 
erick (2),  Henry,  Mary,  married  Joshua 
Yager;  Samuel,  Philip,  Caroline,  Cath- 
erine, Sarah,  married  William  Cully;  Jo- 
seph, and  Benjamin  Franklin. 

Benjamin  Franklin  Sheeder,  youngest 
child  of  Frederick  and  Anna  (Haldeman) 
Sheeder,  was  born  in  West  Vincent  town- 
ship, Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  Jan- 
uary 7,  1823,  died  in  Minersville,  Penn- 
sylvania, September  5,  1879.  He  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his  dis- 
trict, and  for  a  time  taught  school  in 
Hamburg,  Berks  county,  Pennsylvania. 
Later   in    life    he    moved   to    Minersville, 


Schuylkill    county,    Pennsylvania,    where     ' 
he   engaged   in   mercantile  business,   and     , 
for  many  years  served  as  justice  of  the     ' 
peace.     He  was  a  member  of  the  Luth-     ] 
eran  church,  and  in  his  political  faith  a 
Republican.     Benjamin   F.  Sheeder  mar- 
ried Catherine  Wagner,  born  October  n, 
1829,    daughter    of    Henry    and    Barbara 
(Hoffman)     Wagner,    of    Berks    county, 
Pennsylvania;  she  died  February  8.  1898, 
in  Minersville.    They  were  the  parents  of 
two    children    who    grew    to    maturity: 
Vincent    Bayard,    and    Ambrose    Ira,    of 
Minersville,  Pennsylvania. 

Vincent  Bayard  Sheeder,  son  of  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  and  Catherine  (Wagner) 
Sheeder,  was  born  in  Hamburg,  Berks 
county,  Pennsylvania,  November  26,  1857, 
but  when  young  was  taken  by  his  parents 
to  Minersville,  Schuykill  county.  There 
he  was  educated  in  the  public  schools, 
and  when  his  school  days  were  over 
served  an  apprenticeship  with  the  car-  I 
riagemaker,  William  Scott,  of  Hamburg,  j 
Berks  county,  who  taught  him  the  car- 
riage and  wagon  builder's  trade.  Later 
he  became  a  merchant,  remaining  in  Min- 
ersville until  1887,  then  moving  to  Ma- 
hanoy  City,  there  being  manager  of  a 
store  at  Buck  Mountain.  He  remained 
there  two  years,  until  1889,  then  moved 
to  Alden,  where  until  1900  he  was  man- 
ager for  W.  W.  Scott.  In  1900  the  firm 
Sheeder  &  Scott  was  formed  to  open  and 
conduct  a  general  store  at  Wanamie, 
Pennsylvania,  that  store  being  in  charge 
of  Mr.  Sheeder  as  a  partnership  business 
until  191 1,  when  he  became  sole  owner 
under  the  firm  name,  V.  B.  Sheeder. 
That  business  is  still  continued  most  suc- 
cessfully by  Mr.  Sheeder,  who  has  other 
large  business  interests  in  the  district. 
His  corporate  interests  are  largely  in 
lumber  and  construction,  he  being  a  direc- 
tor and  vice-president  of  the  Nanticoke 
Construction   Company,  and  of  the  Sus- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


quehanna  Lumber  Company.  His  bank- 
ing connection  is  with  the  Nanticoke  Na- 
tional Bank,  which  he  serves  as  director. 

In  Free  Masonry,  Mr.  Sheeder  holds  all 
degrees  of  Nanticoke  Lodge,  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons ;  and  Shekinah  Chap- 
ter, Royal  Arch  Masons ;  and  in  Scot- 
tish Rite  Masonry  has  attained  the  thirty- 
second  degree.  He  is  a  noble  of  Irem 
Temple,  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine;  a 
member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows ;  the  Junior  Order  of  American 
Mechanics  ;  and  the  Craftsman  Club.  He 
is  now  (1918)  serving  as  a  member  of  the 
Exemption  Board,  sitting  at  Nanticoke, 
and  faithfully  performing  that  patriotic 
duty. 

Mr.  Sheeder  married,  May  20,  1886, 
Magdalene  Gertrude  Bauer,  born  April 
15,  i860,  daughter  of  Jacob  and  Sarah 
(Wertley)  Bauer,  of  Schuylkill  Haven, 
Pennsylvania.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sheeder  are 
the  parents  of  the  following  children:  1. 
Mary  Irene,  born  October  20,  1887,  who 
married,  November  6,  1917,  Lou  Scott 
Wilson.  2.  George  V.,  born  November 
4,  1888 ;  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
Wanamie,  Wyoming  Seminary  and  the 
University  of  Belgium,  his  course  at  the 
last  named  institution  being  in  music; 
after  his  return  to  Pennsylvania,  he  be- 
came an  instructor  in  violin  music  at 
Wyoming  Seminary,  his  present  posi- 
tion; he  married,  December  31,  1915,  Vir- 
ginia Bramblette,  born  September  17, 
1891,  daughter  of  William  M.  and  Mary 
Kane  (Baxter)  Bramblette,  of  Carlisle, 
Kentucky.  3.  Vincent  Bayard,  Jr.,  born 
February  3,  1899,  now  a  student  at 
Wyoming  Seminary,  Kingston,  Pennsyl- 


STULL,  Arthur  Lewis, 

Business  Man. 

While    Mr.    Stull   has   reached   a   com- 
manding position  in  the  business  world  in 


which  he  moves,  he  holds  that  posi- 
tion through  untiring  effort,  intelligently 
directed,  and  not  through  a  lucky  turn  of 
Fortune's  Wheel,  nor  the  favor  of  influ- 
ential friends.  He  was  a  worker  from 
youth,  and  since  becoming  head  of  his 
own  business  gives  it  closest  supervision, 
and  is  familiar  with  its  every  detail. 
Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania,  has  become 
the  seat  of  his  business  activity,  but  the 
earlier  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in 
another  section.  He  is  a  grandson  of 
Lewis  and  Elizabeth  (Guinter)  Stull,  his 
grandfather  a  native  Philadelphian,  his 
grandmother  born  in  Germany. 

Lewis  Stull,  born  in  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, in  1797,  came  to  Bucks  town- 
ship, Luzerne  county,  about  1817,  and 
there  resided  until  his  death,  upon  the 
farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-six  acres 
which  he  bought,  cleared  and  improved. 
Eight  of  the  nine  children  of  Lewis  and 
Elizabeth  (Guinter)  Stull  lived  to  mature 
years,  five  became  well-known  business 
men  or  agriculturists:  Lewis  (2),  of 
Stoddardsville ;  John,  killed  in  a  battle  of 
the  Civil  War;  Henry,  buried  at  Moosic, 
Pennsylvania ;  Albert,  a  lumberman  of 
Moosic ;  Mary,  married  William  Hess- 
ler,  of  Moosic ;  Adam,  of  further  mention, 
and  Daniel,  a  merchant  in  charge  of  the 
Pettebone  estate  in  Wyoming,  Pennsyl- 
vania. Lewis  Stull,  the  father,  died  in 
1867. 

Adam  Stull,  son  of  Lewis  and  Eliza- 
beth (Guinter)  Stull,  was  born  in  Beau- 
mont, Wyoming  county,  Pennsylvania, 
March  13,  1837,  died  1913.  He  attended 
the  township  district  school,  and  until 
1870  was  engaged  in  lumbering.  In  that 
year  he  became  connected  with  Albert 
Lewis,  at  White  Haven  and  Bear  Creek, 
in  his  lumber  and  ice  business,  as  man- 
ager, later  going  to  Harveys  Lake  and 
developing  the  lumber  interests  of  Mr. 
Lewis,  and  was  associated  with  him  until 
death.     Adam   Stull  married,    i8;8,   Mel- 


83 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


vina  Lewis,  sister  of  Albert  Lewis,  with 
whom  Mr.  Stull  was  so  long  associated. 
They  were  the  parents  of:  Arthur  Lewis, 
of  further  mention;  Sarah  L.,  married  J. 
F.  Glaspy,  of  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey; 
Frederick  A.,  and  Albert  A. 

Arthur  Lewis  Stull,  eldest  son  of 
Adam  and  Melvina  (Lewis)  Stull,  was 
born  in  Gouldsboro,  Wayne  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, September  30,  1862.  He  was 
educated  in  the  village  schools,  Wyoming 
Seminary,  and  Dickinson  Seminary,  Wil- 
liamsport,  Pennsylvania,  completing  his 
studies  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  and 
began  business  life  immediately  after 
leaving  the  seminary,  his  first  position, 
time  keeper,  his  first  employer,  his  uncle, 
Albert  Lewis,  at  his  lumber  and  ice  bus- 
iness at  Bear  Creek,  Pennsylvania.  He 
continued  with  Mr.  Lewis  in  subordinate 
capacity  until  1887.  When  Mr.  Lewis 
opened  the  Harveys  Lake  and  Bowman 
Creek  lumber  district,  July  5,  1887,  Mr. 
Stull  accompanied  him  and  was  made 
superintendent  of  the  plant.  On  August 
1,  1890,  Mr.  Lewis  organized  the  Albert 
Lewis  Lumber  Manufacturing  Company, 
of  which  Mr.  Stull  was  made  treasurer 
and  general  manager,  continuing  in  that 
capacity  until  1907,  when  the  name  was 
changed  to  Lewis  &  Stull.  which  con- 
tinued until  1913,  when  all  the  timber  that 
was  owned  by  the  company  was  ex- 
hausted, and  Mr.  Lewis  purchased  all  the 
Stull's  interest  and  the  same  day  sold 
back  to  Arthur  L.  Stull  and  his  brother, 
Albert  A.  Stull,  the  ice  plant  at  Mt. 
Spring  and  farm  of  6,800  acres  of  land ; 
the  property  is  still  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Stull  and  his  brother.  This  business 
he  yet  continues  with  satisfactory  results, 
with  headquarters  in  Alderson,  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  is  a  director  of  the  Miner's 
Bank  of  Wilkes-Barre,  director  of  the 
Preston  Lumber  &  Coal  Company  of 
Maryland,  and  has  other  interests,  includ- 


ing the  ownership  of  one  of  the  finest 
farms  in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  modernly 
equipped  in  every  respect  and  modernly 
managed.  Mr.  Stull  is  a  member  of  the 
Westmoreland  Club  of  Wilkes-Barre ;  is 
a  Republican  in  politics ;  and  a  member 
of  the  Presbyterian  church. 

Mr.  Stull  married,  October  31,  1889, 
Mary  Edie,  daughter  of  Rev.  James  M. 
and  Josephine  (Logan)  Edie,  of  York, 
Pennsylvania.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stull  are 
the  parents  of:  Josephine  E.,  born  June 
21,  1891,  a  graduate  of  Barnard  College, 
Columbia  University,  New  York,  class  of 
1918;  Robert  A.,  born  March  2,  1895,  edu- 
cated in  the  Wilkes-Barre  public  schools, 
Mercersburg  Academy,  and  Lehigh  Uni- 
versity, leaving  Lehigh  to  enlist  in  the 
109th  Regiment  Field  Artillery,  United 
States  Army,  in  which  he  now  holds  the 
rank  or  sergeant  major;  Arthur  A.  (2), 
born  August  28,  1898,  educated  in  the 
public  schools,  Harry  Hillman  Academy, 
and  Mercersburg  Academy,  now  (1918) 
freshman,   Princeton  University. 


FALK,  Sigmund, 

Manufacturer. 

Prominent  among  the  younger  gener-  j 

ation  of  manufacturers  who  are  infusing  '• 

into  the  Pittsburgh   district  the   element  ■ 

of  youthful  vigor  and  enthusiasm  is  Sig-  ) 

mund  Falk,  vice-president  and  director  of  j 

the  Duquesne  Reduction  Company.     Mr.  j 

Falk    has    thoroughly    identified    himself  ; 
with    a    number   of   Pittsburgh's    leading 
interests,    entering   into   their   promotion 

with  the  same  aggressiveness  which  char-  \ 
acterizes  him  in  all  that  he  undertakes. 

Sigmund    Falk    was    born    in    Irwin,  ] 

Pennsylvania,  August  4,   1873.     He   is  a  1 
son  of  the  late  Charles  and  Sarah  (Sand- 

ers)    Falk.     His   education   was  received  | 
in  the  public  and  private  schools  of  his 

section,  and  upon  its  completion  entered  j 


84 


'  J  a  luj^u/>I     ^JrA^f 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


manufacturing  and  mercantile  lines  of 
endeavor,  in  which  he  has  achieved  prom- 
inence. He  has  been  for  some  years  asso- 
ciated with  his  brothers,  Leon  and  Mau- 
rice (whose  biographies  and  portraits  are 
elsewhere  in  this  work)  and  now  holds 
various  official  positions  in  a  number  of 
corporations,  among  them  being  vice- 
president  and  director  of  the  Duquesne 
Reduction  Company.  Mr.  Falk  is  a  Re- 
publican in  politics,  but  has  never  held 
office,  always  preferring  to  concentrate 
his  energy  on  his  business.  Of  social 
nature,  Mr.  Falk  holds  membership  in 
various  clubs,  among  them  being  the 
Westmoreland  Country  and  Concordia. 
He  is  a  member  of  Rodef  Shalom  con- 
gregation. 


NORSTEDT,  J.  Albert,  M.  D., 

Physician. 

In  Vestervik,  a  seaport  of  Sweden,  on 
an  inlet  of  the  Baltic  sea,  Peter  Norstedt 
lived,  married  and  reared  a  family.  He 
was  a  jeweler  and  clockmaker,  and  Ves- 
tervik being  a  town  of  size  and  import- 
ance, his  business  was  profitable,  and  his 
position  in  social  life  a  secure  one.  He 
married  Regina  Anderson,  and  they  were 
the  parents  of  a  son,  J.  Albert  Norstedt, 
who  in  1872  came  to  the  United  States, 
continuing  at  Mt.  Carmel,  a  borough  of 
Northumberland  county,  Pennsylvania, 
the  business  which  had  long  been  a  fam- 
ily one  and  which  he  learned  from  his 
father  in  his  far  off  Swedish  home.  In 
Mt.  Carmel  he  continued  the  jewelry  bus- 
iness for  about  forty  years.  His  wife 
was  a  daughter  of  David  J.  Lewis,  a  vet- 
eran of  the  Civil  War,  the  first  postmas- 
ter of  Mt.  Carmel,  a  justice  of  the  peace 
for  thirty-five  years,  and  a  pioneer  coal 
operator  of  that  section.  Her  mother, 
Amanda  (Hill)  Lewis,  was  a  descendant 
of  Isaac   Levan   Hill,  a  Huguenot,  who 


fled  from  France  with  his  brothers  in  a 
time  of  religious  persecution.  J.  Albert 
and  Kate  (Lewis)  Norstedt  were  the  par- 
ents of  seven  sons  and  a  daughter,  the 
latter  and  three  of  her  brothers  now  in 
the  service  of  their  country  as  volunteers, 
while  a  fourth  brother,  Lieutenant  Gus- 
tave  Norstedt,  an  officer  of  the  Medical 
Reserve  Corps,  United  States  Army,  died 
March  15,  1918.  Of  such  parentage  and 
such  environment  came  Dr.  J.  Albert  (2) 
Norstedt,  one  of  the  most  prominent  of 
the  younger  physicians  of  the  Wyoming 
Valley. 

J.  Albert  Norstedt,  son  of  Peter  and 
Regina  (Anderson)  Norstedt  was  born 
in  Vestervik,  Sweden,  1847,  and  died  at 
Mt.  Carmel,  Pennsylvania,  1914.  He' 
learned  the  jeweler's  trade  with  his 
father,  became  an  expert  in  watch  and 
clock  work,  continuing  at  his  trade  in 
his  home  town  until  1872,  when  he  came 
to  the  United  States,  landing  at  Philadel- 
phia, but  immediately  going  to  his  pre- 
arranged destination,  Mt.  Carmel,  North- 
umberland county,  in  the  anthracite  coal 
region  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  the  first 
man  to  there  engage  in  the  jewelry  busi- 
ness, and  during  the  forty-two  years 
which  intervened  ere  death  claimed  him, 
he  was  one  of  the  reliable,  substantial 
men  of  the  borough.  He  was  of  quiet  life 
and  habits,  diligent  in  business,  very 
much  attached  to  his  home  and  family  to 
the  exclusion  of  political  office  seeking  or 
club  membership.  In  religious  faith  he 
was  a  Lutheran,  and  in  politics  supported 
the  Republican  party.  He  was  esteemed 
of  all  men  and  lived  the  mature  period  of 
his  years,  sixty-seven,  in  the  favor  of  his 
fellowmen. 

Mr.  Norstedt  married  at  Mt.  Carmel, 
May  22,  1882,  Kate  Lewis,  who  survives 
him,  a  daughter  of  Squire  Davis  J.  and 
Amanda  (Hill)  Lewis  (of  previous  men- 
tion),    the    latter    a    descendant    of    a 


85 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Huguenot  ancestor,  Isaac  Levan  Hill, 
through  whom  Mrs.  Lewis  gains  her 
membership  in  the  Pennsylvania  Hugue- 
not Society.  Squire  David  J.  and  Amanda 
(Hill)  Lewis  were  the  parents  of:  John 
J.;  William  H.,  a  physician;  Josephine, 
who  married  William  Camp ;  and  Kate, 
widow  of  J.  Albert  Norstedt.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  J.  Albert  Norstedt  are  the  parents 
of  the  following  children :  *  Carl  Adolph, 
born  in  1883,  a  superintendent  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  edu- 
cational department,  United  States  Army; 
J.  Albert,  of  further  mention;  Gustave 
H.,  born  1892,  died  at  Camp  Upton,  New 
York,  March  15,  1918,  first  lieutenant, 
United  States  Medical  Reserve  Corps; 
Carl  Magnus,  born  in  1893  ;j  Freda,  born 
1894,  a  graduate  nurse,  University  of 
Pennsylvania  Hospital,  now  with  the 
University  Hospital,  American  Expedi- 
tionary Forces,  "Somewhere  in  France ;" 
Sigrid,  born  1896;    Albin,  born  1898. 

J.  Albert  (2)  Norstedt,  second  son  of 
J.  Albert  and  Kate  (Lewis)  Norstedt, 
was  born  at  Mt.  Carmel,  Pennsylvania, 
May  13,  1885,  and  there  completed  grade 
and  high  school  study  with  graduation. 
After  completing  his  school  years  he 
became  a  clerk  in  his  uncle's  store  at  Mt. 
Carmel,  Pennsylvania,  and  during  the 
succeeding  years  made  a  special  study  of 
pharmacy,  passed  the  examinations  of  the 
State  board,  and  was  awarded  a  diploma 
under  which  he  became  a  registered  phar- 
macist. Pharmacy  was  not  his  choice  of 
a  profession,  however,  and  finally  he 
entered  the  medical  department  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  whence  he 
was  graduated  M.  D.,  class  of  1908.  The 
years,  1908-10,  were  spent  as  interne  at 
Kings  County  Hospital,  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  the  latter  half  of  the  year  1910 
being  devoted  to  a  five  months'  course 
of  study  in  the  London  hospitals.  Upon 
his   return    from    England,   in    1910,    Dr. 


Norstedt  selected  Nanticoke,  Luzerne 
county,  Pennsylvania,  as  a  location,  and 
there  began  a  practice  which  has  grown 
with  the  years  until  it  demands  his  full 
time  and  best  professional  effort.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  State 
Medical  Society,  and  the  Luzerne  County 
Medical  Society,  is  a  member  of  Univer- 
sity Lodge,  No.  610,  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons,  of  Philadelphia ;  and  holds  the 
thirty-two  degrees  of  Scranton  Con- 
sistory, Ancient  Accepted  Scottish  Rite. 
Politically  he  is  a  Republican. 

Dr.  Norstedt  married,  May  31,  191 1, 
Anna  Evans,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and 
they  are  the  parents  of  a  son,  William 
Albert,  born  March  3,  191 2,  died  June 
4,  1915,  and  two  daughters:  Dorothy, 
born  May  23,  1915,  and  Ruth  Elizabeth, 
born  April  1,  1917. 


CONLON,  John, 

Coal  Operator. 

Since  boyhood  John  Conlon,  of  Hud- 
son, Pennsylvania,  has  been  identified 
with  the  coal  industry  of  the  Wyoming 
Valley,  beginning  a  breaker  boy  and  ris- 
ing through  all  grades  to  a  superin- 
tendent's position,  stepping  from  that  into 
the  ranks  of  coal  operators.  He  began 
in  a  modest  way  in  1913,  but  each  day  he 
has  grown  in  importance  as  a  producer, 
and  is  fast  reaching  a  position  of  inde- 
pendence. He  is  a  worker  and  has  won 
his  own  way  to  the  success  that  he  has 
attained,  and  to  this  characteristic  must 
be  added  a  deep  love  for  his  home  and  a 
devotion  to  his  family  rarely  exceeded. 
He  is  always  to  be  found  at  home  in  his 
hours  "off  duty"  and  there  finds  his 
greatest  happiness.  He  is  a  son  of 
Myles  and  Bridget  (Riley)  Conlon,  both 
of  County  Roscommon,  Ireland. 

Myles  Conlon  and  his  wife  came  from 
their  native  Ireland  to  the  United  States, 


J^yj^^^^-  C-^^^z^i^ 


{/ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


landing  in  New  York  City,  but  a  little 
later  going  to  Ashland,  Schuylkill  county, 
Pennsylvania,  where  Myles  Conlon  found 
abundant  employment  in  the  coal  mines. 
In  the  early  fifties  he  moved  to  Scranton, 
Pennsylvania,  there  living  until  after  the 
Civil  War  period,  then  moving  to  Hud- 
son, Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  which 
was  his  home  until  his  death.  During  all 
his  Scranton  and  Hudson  residence  years 
he  continued  a  mine  worker,  was  a  good 
miner  and  an  honest  man.  He  died  in 
1887,  and  is  buried  in  Parsons  Cemetery, 
Hudson,  Pennsylvania.  Both  he  and  his 
wife,  Bridget  (Riley)  Conlon,  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Roman  Catholic  church.  They 
were  the  parents  of  ten  sons  and  daugh- 
ters :  James  ;  Thomas  ;  Winifred  ;  Myles  ; 
Cornelius;  Mary  Ann;  John,  of  further 
mention ;  William ;  Peter,  who  was  for 
twenty  years  principal  of  schools  at 
Plains,  Pennsylvania ;  Annie,  married 
Edward  J.  Cochran,  of  Plains,  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

John  Conlon  was  born  in  Scranton, 
Pennsylvania,  May  5,  1862.  For  a  time 
he,  attended  school  in  the  little  log  school-  , 
house  at  Plains,  but  the  large  family 
demanded  that  the  boys  early  become 
wage  earners,  and  at  an  early  age  John 
was  working  as  a  breaker  boy  and  add- 
ing his  wages  to  the  family  fund.  He 
began  in  the  breaker  at  the  Mill  Creek 
Mine  and  as  soon  as  possible  obtained 
work  in  the  mine.  After  becoming  an 
expert  miner  and  capable  of  filling  higher 
position,  he  was  promoted  and  finally 
became  assistant  superintendent  of  the 
Pine  Ridge  Mine  owned  and  operated  by 
the  Delaware  &  Hudson  Company.  This 
was  in  1880,  and  for  twelve  years  he  held 
the  position  of  assistant,  receiving  his 
promotion  to  the  post  of  superintendent 
in  1892.  As  superintendent  he  displayed 
good  managerial  capacity,  and  under  his 
management  the  mine  produced  satisfac- 


torily to  the  owners.  He  resigned  his 
position  in  1913,  bought  a  tract  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty-five  acres  of  coal  bear- 
ing land  from  the  Fairmount  Land  Com- 
pany, and  opening  up  a  slope  became  a 
producing  operator.  His  mine  located  at 
Hudson  in  the  Pennsylvania  anthracite 
region  is  more  than  meeting  his  demands, 
the  present  output  being  over  three  hun- 
dred tons  daily.  It  is  a  satisfaction  to 
Mr.  Conlon  and  his  friends  that  success 
has  come  as  a  reward  for  his  years  of 
industry,  and  with  the  past  as  a  criterion 
greater  success  awaits  him.  That  he  is 
highly  regarded  and  popular  in  the  town 
which  has  long  been  his  home  is  well 
attested  by  the  fact  that  for  twenty  years 
he  has  been  retained  a  member  of  the 
Plains  township  school  board,  and  at  dif- 
ferent times  he  has  been  president  of  the 
board  and  its  treasurer.  That  he  holds 
honorable  position  among  business  men 
is  evidenced  by  his  membership  in  the 
board  of  directors  of  the  Dime  Deposit 
Bank  of  Wilkes-Barre.  In  politics  he  is 
a  Democrat,  in  religious  faith  a  Roman 
Catholic,  a  member  of  Sacred  Heart  Par- 
ish. 

Mr.  Conlon  married,  December  1,  1885, 
Mary  Clarke,  born  at  Bloomsburgh,  Penn- 
sylvania, April  8,  1865,  daughter  of  John 
and  Mary  (Carey)  Clarke,  her  father 
born  in  Roscommon,  Ireland.  John  and 
Mary  Clarke  were  the  parents  of :  James ; 
Michael ;  John ;  Mary,  married  John  Con- 
lon ;  Margaret,  married  James  Dun- 
leavy,  of  Wilkes-Barre;  Peter;  and  Eu- 
gene, deceased.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Conlon  are 
the  parents  of  eleven  sons  and  daughters : 
I.  William,  born  February  4,  1887;  mar- 
ried Catherine  Featherston,  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  a  kindergarten  teacher.  2.  Mary, 
a  graduate  nurse.  3.  Margaret,  a  teacher 
of  Languages  at  Plains  High  School.  4. 
Gertrude,  a  graduate  of  Mansfield  State 
Normal  School.     5.  Joseph,  born  August 


s; 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


6,  1896;  a  graduate  of  Mansfield  State 
Normal  School,  now  in  the  service  of  his 
country,  corporal  of  Battery  D,  311th 
Field  Artillery,  United  States  Army.  6. 
Peter,  born  August  22,  1899;  a  student 
at  Plains  High  School.  7.  Paul,  twin 
with  Peter,  and  attending  the  same 
school.  8.  John,  born  May  13,  1903.  9. 
Julia.  10.  Alice,  n.  Charles  Myles,  born 
November  9,  1907. 


HEALEY,  Martin  J., 

Coal  Operator. 

The  success  that  has  been  attained  by 
Mr.  Healey  in  his  coal  operations  has 
stamped  him  as  a  man  of  energy,  sound 
judgment,  and  strong  character.  He  was 
but  twenty-three  years  of  age  when  he 
executed  his  first  lease,  and  two  years 
later  he  purchased  his  own  land  and  has 
developed  his  own  properties  to  a  point 
where  he  is  shipping  eight  hundred  tons 
of  anthracite  coal  daily  from  his  three 
mines,  owns  his  own  breakers  and  em- 
ploys five  hundred  men.  All  his  success 
has  been  accomplished  as  a  young  man 
not  yet  in  his  prime,  and  could  not  have 
been  achieved  save  through  his  rare  busi- 
ness ability,  clear  judgment  and  untiring 
energy.  He  is  one  of  the  successful  men 
of  the  coal  business,  and  in  Plains,  Penn- 
sylvania, his  home  and  business  head- 
quarters, he  is  held  in  high  esteem  as  a 
man  of  reliability  and  sterling  worth. 

Martin  J.  Healey  is  a  son  of  Patrick 
and  Bridget  (Flannery)  Healey,  both 
born  in  County  Mayo,  Ireland.  Patrick 
Healey  was  a  farmer  and  remained  in  his 
native  land  until  1866,  when  he  sailed 
from  Queenstown,  arriving  in  New  York, 
going  thence  to  Pittston,  Pennsylvania, 
there  remaining  three  months  only.  From 
Pittston  he  removed  to  Plains,  Luzerne 
county,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  em- 
ployed around  and  in  the  coal  mines  until 


his  death  in  1903.  His  widow  survived 
him  until  1906.  Both  were  members  of 
Sacred  Heart  Roman  Catholic  Church  of 
Plains.  They  were  the  parents  of  sev- 
eral children,  four  of  whom  grew  to  man- 
hood:  Michael,  Catherine,  Patrick,  and 
Martin  J. 

Martin  J.  Healey  was  born  in  Plains, 
Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  Novem- 
ber 10,  1876,  and  there  attended  school 
until  nine  years  of  age,  when  he  began 
wage  earning  as  a  "breaker  boy."  From 
the  "breaker"  he  graduated  to  the  mine, 
and  for  several  years  was  engaged  in 
mining  in  boys'  positions  and  later  as  a 
skilled  miner.  For  a  short  time  he 
engaged  in  the  undertaking  business,  but 
in  the  year  1900  he  made  his  first  start  in 
the  business  in  which  he  has  since  scored 
so  signal  a  success,  coal  operating.  He 
leased  the  old  Hillman  vein  mine  in 
North  Wilkes-Barre,  which  he  operated 
about  one  year  very  profitably,  then  sold 
his  interest  to  the  present  owners,  the 
Wilkes-Barre  &  Scranton  Coal  Company. 
The  following  year,  1902,  he  purchased 
from  the  Miner  and  Stacker  Coal  Tract, 
one  hundred  and  thirty-two  acres  at 
Plains,  Pennsylvania,  on  which  he  located 
two  slopes,  and  developed  to  a  condition 
of  high  productiveness  the  property  now 
producing  three  hundred  tons  of  mer- 
chantable coal  daily.  His  success  with 
that  tract  encouraged  him  to  extend  his 
operations,  and  in  1907  he  added  to  his 
holding  the  Dr.  Wey  tract  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  acres,  at  Alden,  Pennsylvania.  At 
the  mine  on  that  tract  he  built  a  new 
breaker,  and  from  that  plant  two  hundred 
tons  are  shipped  daily.  In  1910  he  still  fur- 
ther enlarged  his  business  by  the  purchase 
of  a  tract  from  the  Troy  Coal  Company  of 
Wyoming,  Pennsylvania,  his  mine  on  that 
property  now  producing  three  hundred 
tons  daily,  the  production  daily  from  his 
three    properties    being    eight    hundred 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


tons.  He  thoroughly  understands  his 
business,  there  being  no  detail  which  he 
has  not  learned  from  personal  contact  and 
experience.  His  standing  is  high  in  his 
community,  and  he  ranks  with  the  ener- 
getic, progressive  men  of  his  town.  A 
Democrat  in  politics,  Mr.  Healey  has 
been  one  of  the  active,  influential  men  of 
his  party  in  his  district  for  several  years. 
He  has  served  his  town  as  school  director 
several  terms,  and  is  deeply  interested  in 
securing  for  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  dis- 
trict the  very  best  educational  advan- 
tages possible.  He  is  a  member  of  Sacred 
Heart  Church,  of  Plains,  the  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  and  the  Knights  of  Columbus. 

Mr.  Healey  married,  November  26, 
1898,  Julia  A.  Reilly,  daughter  of  James 
and  Ann  Reilly,  of  Miners  Mills,  Penn- 
sylvania. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Healey  are  the 
parents  of  three  daughters  and  a  son : 
Anna,  a  student  at  Marywood  College, 
Scranton,  Pennsylvania ;  Martin  J.  (2)  ; 
Loretta;  and  Rita. 


SCOUTON,  Frank  J., 

Financier,  Business  Man. 

When  in  June,  1910,  the  Citizens  Bank 
of  Parsons,  Pennsylvania,  was  incorpor- 
ated, Frank  J.  Scouton,  one  of  the  found- 
ers, was  chosen  as  its  first  executive  head, 
an  honor  he  had  qualified  for  during  a 
previous  active  and  successful  business 
career  in  Parsons,  dating  from  1888.  His 
election  has  since  proved  his  fitness  for 
financial  responsibilities,  and  under  his 
administration  and  presidency  the  bank 
has  gained  a  strong  position  among 
Luzerne  county's  financial  institutions. 
Since  youth  Mr.  Scouton  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  lumber  business  as  manu- 
facturer, wholesaler  and  retailer,  and  is 
one  of  Pennsylvania's  well-known  busi- 
ness men  and  eminent  citizens. 


The  Scoutons  came  from  the  State  of 
Connecticut  to  Pennsylvania,  the  first 
comer  being  Jacob  Scouton,  a  soldier  of 
the  War  of  1812.  He  bought  land  in 
Forkston  township,  Wyoming  county 
(then  a  part  of  Luzerne  county),  which  he 
cleared  and  afterward  cultivated,  being 
among  the  early  settlers  both  of  the 
township  and  county.  He  married,  and 
in  addition  to  a  daughter  Lucy,  who  mar- 
ried William  Thompson,  he  had  another 
daughter,  and  sons :  Charles,  Matthias, 
William  W.,  the  latter,  the  grandfather 
of  Frank  J.  Scouton. 

William  W.  Scouton  was  born  in 
Forkston  township,  Wyoming  county, 
Pennsylvania  (then  Luzerne  county),  in 
1796,  and  there  died  in  1852,  a  farmer 
and  lumberman.  He  married  a  Miss 
Adams,  they  the  parents  of  sons  and 
daughters :  Major,  William  W.,  of  fur- 
ther mention;  Calista,  married  George  B. 
Clark,  of  Beaumont,  Wyoming  county ; 
Mary,  married  Henry  Barber,  of  Lovel- 
ton,  Wyoming  county;  Louisa,  married 
John  Lyman,  and  moved  to  near  Syra- 
cuse, New  York;  Fanny,  married  J.  B. 
Parks,  of  Bradford  county,  Pennsylvania, 
later  a  resident  of  Wyoming  county. 

William  W.  (2)  Scouton,  second  son  of 
William  W.  (1)  Scouton,  was  born  in 
Forkston  township,  Wyoming  county, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1827,  died  in  Wilmot 
township,  Bradford  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  1896.  He  was  reared  at  the 
homestead  in  Forkston  township,  obtained 
such  education  as  the  schools  of  the  dis- 
trict then  afforded,  and  remained  at  home, 
his  father's  assistant,  until  the  latter's 
death  in  1852.  In  1858  he  moved  to 
Bradford  county,  purchased  a  two  hun- 
dred acre  tract  in  Wilmot  township  cov- 
ered with  timber.  This  he  cleared,  man- 
ufacturing the  timber  into  lumber,  and 
bringing  the  land  under  a  high  state 
of  cultivation  in  later  years.    He  enlisted 


») 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


in  the  One  Hundred  and  Forty-second 
Regiment,  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, and  served  until  honorably  dis- 
charged at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War. 
He  then  returned  to  his  farm  in  Wil- 
mot  township,  and  there  lived  the  re- 
maining thirty-one  years  of  his  life.  He 
was  one  of  the  substantial  farmers  of  his 
township,  a  deeply  religious  man,  highly 
esteemed  by  his  neighbors  and  greatly 
sought  for  in  counsel.  He  married,  in 
1843,  Lura  Robinson,  daughter  of  Ira 
and  Abbie  (Taylor)  Robinson,  of  Wyom- 
ing county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scouton  were 
the  parents  of:  Ira,  deceased;  William 
M.,  deceased;  John  G.,  attorney,  of  Du- 
shore,  Pennsylvania ;  James  R.,  attor- 
ney, of  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania; 
Frank  J.,  of  further  mention ;  Harriet, 
married  Judge  Harvey  Sickler,  of  Tunk- 
hannock,  Pennsylvania ;  and  Anna,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  twenty  years. 

Frank  J.  Scouton,  son  of  William  W. 
(2)  and  Lura  (Robinson)  Scouton,  was 
born  at  the  home  farm  in  Wilmot  town- 
ship, Bradford  county,  Pennsylvania, 
March  6,  1861.  He  was  educated  in  the 
district  public  school,  Towanda  High 
School,  and  Wyoming  Seminary,  com- 
pleting his  studies  with  a  business  course 
at  the  last  named  institution.  He  was 
his  father's  assistant  at  the  home  farm 
until  attaining  legal  age  in  1882,  then  was 
engaged  in  lumbering  until  1888  in  Wya- 
lusing,  Bradford  county,  and  at  Dushore, 
Sullivan  county,  Pennsylvania.  These 
were  six  successful  years  for  so  young  a 
man  and  definitely  decided  his  choice  of 
a  business  career.  In  the  latter  part  of 
1888,  he  located  at  Parsons,  in  Luzerne 
county,  and  continued  in  the  lumber  bus- 
iness under  his  own  name.  In  1890  the 
firm  of  Scouton,  Lee  &  Company,  con- 
sisting of  Frank  J.  Scouton,  Conrad  Lee 
and  George  F.  Lee,  was  formed.  They 
continued  a  successful  lumber  business  at 


Parsons  until  1895,  when  Conrad  Lee 
retired,  Mr.  Scouton  and  George  F.  Lee 
continuing  the  business  under  the  same 
firm  name.  The  same  year  (1895)  they 
opened  a  retail  lumber  yard  and  a  general 
store  at  Hanover,  in  the  borough  of  Xan- 
ticoke,  that  business  being  yet  conducted 
under  the  firm  name,  Lee  &  Scouton,  a 
name  well  and  favorably  known  in  the 
business  world.  For  thirty  years  Mr. 
Scouton  has  been  identified  with  the  lum- 
ber business  in  Parsons,  and  during  those 
years  has  won  high  and  honored  stand- 
ing as  a  man  of  upright  character,  fair 
and  just  in  all  his  dealings,  public-spirited, 
progressive  and  very  helpful  in  commun- 
ity affairs.  In  June,  1910,  the  Citizens 
Bank  of  Parsons  was  organized,  and 
when  the  incorporators  met  to  organize, 
Mr.  Scouton  was  elected  president,  the 
only  man  as  yet  to  hold  that  honor.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Franklin,  Press,  and 
Automobile  clubs  of  Wilkes-Barre,  and 
in  politics  a  Republican. 

Mr.  Scouton  married,  February  14, 
1888,  Kathryn  S.  Shadd,  born  April  18, 
1870,  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
Shadd,  of  Bernice,  Sullivan  county,  Penn- 
sylvania. Mrs.  Scouton  died  December 
24,  1896,  leaving  a  son,  Wirt  W.  Scouton, 
born  April  4,  1892,  now  in  the  employ  of 
the  Delaware  &  Hudson  Canal  Company, 
married  Isabel  Gilmore  and  has  a  daugh- 
ter, Helen  Scouton.  Another  child  of  j 
Frank  J.  and  Kathryn  S.  Scouton  died  in 
infancy. 


DUNHAM,  Minor  B., 

Man  of  Enterprise. 

With  the  passing  of  Minor  B.  Dunham, 
of  Warren,  Pennsylvania,  a  life  ended 
which  from  boyhood,  as  his  fathers 
assistant  and  later  as  his  successor,  was 
one  of  well  directed,  successful  effort. 
The  lives  of  the  Dunhams,  father  and  son, 


CJ  vSs/J'^t^1'ZSsl-j£- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


were  intermingled  with  the  history  of 
Cherry  Grove  and  Sheffield  townships, 
Warren  county,  from  1833  until  1856, 
when  the  father  retired,  leaving  the  son 
in  control.  From  that  year  Minor  B. 
Dunham  was  connected  with  many  im- 
portant operations  in  various  places  in 
the  county,  principally  with  lumbering, 
and  from  1871  until  his  death  made  War- 
ren his  headquarters.  The  value  of  these 
two  lives  to  Warren  county  cannot  be 
estimated ;  their  influence  touched  all 
departments  of  county  life,  and  in  busi- 
ness, finance,  public  life  and  church,  their 
names  "led  all  the  rest." 

When  Richard  Dunham  settled  in 
Cherry  Grove  township,  the  locality  was 
virgin  forest  and  his  first  home  was  a 
house  built  of  logs  cut  from  the  site  on 
which  it  stood.  When  a  little  later  he 
moved  to  Sheffield  township,  but  two  men 
had  preceded  him,  Timothy  and  Erastus 
Barnes.  When  Minor  B.  Dunham  made 
his  first  trip  to  Pittsburgh,  he  was  a  boy 
of  twelve,  and  journeyed  to  that  city  on 
a  raft  of  lumber  sawed  from  logs  cut 
from  the  Dunham  land.  When  in  1870 
Richard  Dunham  died,  he  saw  prosperous 
towns  and  fertile  fields  where  he  had 
found  a  wilderness,  and  when  Minor  B. 
Dunham  closed  his  career,  Warren  had  a 
population  of  nearly  40,000,  and  the  city 
of  Warren  with  a  population  of  nearly 
10,000  was  a  city  of  manufacturing,  banks, 
business  houses,  and  homes  of  wealth  and 
luxury.  And  in  all  this  development  the 
Dunham's  had  borne  a  prominent  part, 
the  father  as  a  pioneer  and  founder,  the 
son  developing  and  expanding  with  the 
opportunity  of  the  last  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  The  father  gloried  in  the 
ability  and  success  of  the  son,  the  son 
honored  the  memory  of  the  father,  and 
both  deserve  the  high  place  in  the  annals 
of  Warren  county  which  history  has 
accorded  them. 


Richard  Dunham  came  to  Warren 
county  from  Tompkins  county,  New 
York,  but  his  father,  Thomas  Dunham, 
was  from  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  going 
thence  to  the  town  of  Ovid,  Tompkins 
county,  New  York,  in  1805.  Thomas 
Dunham  passed  the  latter  years  of  his 
life  in  Steuben  county,  New '  York,  and 
there  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine,  on 
February  22,  1845,  leaving  seven  sons  and 
a  daughter. 

Richard  Dunham,  fifth  son  of  Thornas 
Dunham,  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  in 
1802,  and  died  in  Warren,  Pennsylvania, 
January  30,  1870.  He  was  three  years  of 
age  when  his  parents  moved  to  Ovid, 
New  York,  and  in  his  new  home  he  began 
his  school  life,  finishing  in  Ithaca,  New 
York,  even  at  that  early  day  a  town  of 
good  schools.  He  began  teaching  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  and  continued  a  peda- 
gogue twelve  years  (1820-1832),  although 
he  soon  became  the  owner  of  a  farm  and 
gave  his  summers  to  its  cultivation.  In 
1832  he  traded  his  farm  for  a  tract  of 
land  in  Warren  county,  Pennsylvania, 
and  in  March,  1833,  moved  to  his  new 
home  in  the  wilderness,  the  locality  being 
then  under  sixteen  inches  of  snow.  The 
locality  in  which  he  first  settled  and  built 
his  home  of  logs  to  which  he  brought  his 
family  is  now  Cherry  Grove  township, 
the  immediate  site  later  witnessing  the 
opening  of  the  first  and  greatest  oil  well 
in  the  village  of  Garfield,  which  sprang 
up  around  it  and  flourished  for  a  time. 

It  was  not  until  the  July  following,  that 
he  had  his  home  completed  and  a  start 
made  at  real  settlement.  He  then  began 
his  lumbering  operations  by  aiding  in  the 
construction  of  a  dam  and  saw  mill  for  a 
firm  to  which  he  was  afterward  admitted 
a  partner.  In  course  of  time  he  bought 
his  partners  out  and  moved  to  Sheffield 
township,  in  which  but  two  families  were 
livinsr.     He  conducted  extensive  lumber- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


ing  interests  with  the  aid  of  his  sons,  and 
as  they  came  to  sturdy  boyhood  he  gave 
way  to  them,  he  never  being  a  man  of 
robust  health.  He,  however,  remained  at 
the  head  of  the  large  lumbering  business 
he  had  created  until  1856,  when  ill 
health  forced  a  reluctant  retirement. 
For  twenty  consecutive  years  he  was  a 
justice  of  the  peace,  and  from  1858  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal church.  He  was  a  man  of  strictly 
moral  life,  and  trained  his  children  to 
habits  of  industry  and  right  living. 

Richard  Dunham  married,  in  New 
York,  in  July,  1826,  Laura  Allen,  born  in 
Saulsbury,  New  York,  July  29,  1805,  and 
died  July  29,  1891,  aged  just  eighty-six 
years.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Enos 
Allen,  who  settled  in  Yates  county,  New 
York,  about  1817,  a  descendant  of  Col- 
onel Ethan  Allen,  of  New  Hampshire. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dunham  were  the  parents 
of  six  sons  and  five  daughters,  nine  of 
their  children  reaching  years  of  maturity. 

Minor  B.  Dunham,  second  child  of 
Richard  and  Laura  (Allen)  Dunham,  was 
born  in  Tompkins  county,  New  York, 
January  25,  1829,  and  died  in  Warren, 
Pennsylvania,  February  4,  1902,  after  an 
illness  of  fifteen  months.  He  was  four 
years  of  age  when  his  parents  moved  to 
Warren  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  the 
public  school  of  Sheffield  his  education 
was  begun.  He  obtained  a  good  educa- 
tion, his  father  giving  him  the  advan- 
tages of  school  attendance  in  Havana, 
Schuyler  county,  and  in  Alfred,  Alle- 
gheny county,  New  York,  in  addition  to 
the  personal  instruction  he  was  himself 
well-fitted  to  give.  The  school  attend- 
ance continued  until  the  young  man  was 
of  age,  but  not  continuously,  as  he  was 
his  father's  assistant  from  the  age  of 
twelve  years  when  he  went  on  his  first 
trip  to  Pittsburgh  with  a  raft  of  lum- 
ber.    The  father  fully  instructed  his  son 


in  business  methods,  and  so  fully  trusted 
him  with  his  interests  that  from  the  age 
of  twelve  years  he  was  able  to  attend 
school  only  a  part  of  each  year.  After 
the  age  of  sixteen,  his  trips  with  the  lum- 
ber rafts  to  Pittsburgh  and  Cincinnati 
were  made  with  regularity,  and  in  1856, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  his  father 
retired,  leaving  Minor  B.  Dunham  in 
charge.  In  1858  he  purchased  the  Dun- 
ham homestead  and  all  the  property,  and 
became  sole  owner  and  manager  of  the 
business.  In  1865  the  timber  lands  of 
Sheffield  failing  to  furnish  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  logs  for  his  mills,  he  sold  out 
his  holdings  there  and  moved  his  base  of 
operations  to  Cherry  Grove  and  Watson, 
and  enlarged  the  scope  of  his  activity. 

Naturally,  with  the  change  in  methods 
from  those  of  earlier  days,  the  shifting  of 
trade  channels  caused  by  the  opening  of 
railroads,  Mr.  Dunham,  a  thoroughly  pro- 
gressive man,  kept  pace.  He  began  ship- 
ping lumber  from  his  mills  to  Philadel- 
phia and  other  eastern  markets,  and 
reached  many  lumber  markets  away  from 
river  transportation.  From  1868  until 
1871  he  resided  in  Sharpsburg,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  had  established  an  inter- 
est in  a  lumber  yard  and  a  planing  mill. 
In  1871  he  removed  to  Warren,  Pennsyl- 
vania, which  was  ever  afterward  his  resi- 
dence, and  in  1876  he  erected  a  fine  home 
on  Water  street.  He  enlarged  his  lum- 
bering interests  continually,  operated 
sawmills  in  Forest  county,  in  addition  to 
those  in  Warren  county,  and  he  also 
owned  timber  lands  in  West  Virginia. 
These  were  his  individual  concerns,  and 
do  not  include  his  corporate  or  partner- 
ship interest.  From  the  year  1856  he  was 
associated  with  Colonel  L.  F.  Watson  in 
the  purchase  of  large  timber  tracts,  had 
large  mining  interests,  and  at  the  time  of 
his  death  was  president  of  the  Chainman 
Mining  Company  of  Nevada.     For  about 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


1  fifteen  years   he  was   a   director   of  the 

j  Warren  Savings   Bank,  and  to  a  certain 

f  extent   operated    in    oil.      But   his    chief 

|  interest   from   boyhood   until   death   was 

;'  lumbering,    and   there   was   no    phase   of 

[  that   business    from    standing   timber   to 

the  manufactured  product  with  which  he 

1  could  not  be  classed  as  an  expert.     His 

judgment   upon   the  value   of   a  tract   of 

'  standing   timber  was   unquestioned,   and 

in  the  business  of  marketing  the  product 

of  his  mills  he  used  unerring  judgment. 

He  was  an  ardent  Republican,  his  sec- 
ond presidential  vote  being  cast  for  Gen- 
eral John  C.  Fremont,  the  first  candidate 
of  that  party,  and  he  supported  every  Re- 
publican presidential  candidate  there- 
after. He  would  never  accept  office  for 
himself,  but  was  loyal  in  the  support  of 
his  friends  with  political  aspirations.  He 
was  a  devoted  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  and  while  residing  in 
Sharpsburg  aided  in  the  construction  of 
Union  Centenary  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  as  he  had  previously  done  in  the 
erection  of  a  new  Methodist  church  in 
Sheffield.  In  Warren  he  was  a  member 
of  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
saw  the  need  of  a  new  building,  and  most 
generously  contributed  of  his  means  and 
valuable  time  to  accomplish  its  erection. 
The   church   edifice   was   begun   in  June, 

1885,  and   was   dedicated   September    19, 

1886.  He  was  a  member  of  the  board  of 
trustees  for  many  years,  and  ever  active 
in  all  departments  of  the  work  of  the 
church.  He  was  for  several  years  presi- 
dent of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, and  ever  deeply  interested  in  its 
work.  His  charities  and  benevolences 
extended  to  all  worthy  objects,  and  he 
privately  aided  many  indivduals.  His 
interest  in  and  work  for  his  fellowmen 
continued  until  the  last,  and  his  death 
was  genuinely  regretted  in  the  commun- 
ity in  which  he  was  such  a  power  for 
good. 


Mr.  Dunham  married,  February  19, 
1852,  Mary  M.  Person,  who  survives  him, 
a  daughter  of  Harrison  Person  of  Ellery, 
Chautauqua  county,  New  York.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Dunham  were  the  parents  of  two 
sons  and  two  daughters:  1.  Clara  Ellen, 
born  August  23,  1853,  died  February  6, 
1875.  2.  George  H.,  born  October  27, 
1854;  educated  at  Mount  Union  College 
(Ohio)  ;  associated  with  his  honored 
father  in  business,  and  at  the  time  of  the 
latter's  death  was  in  charge  of  the  street 
railroad  at  Titusville,  Pennsylvania,  that 
being  the  latest  of  Mr.  Dunham's  busi- 
ness ventures.  3.  Francis,  born  April 
15,  1856,  died  in  infancy.  4.  Jessie  M., 
born  April  6,  1862;  Married  Dr.  Richard 
B.  Stewart,  of  Warren,  and  has  two  sons: 
i.  Minor  Benson  Stewart,  born  June  16, 
1884,  now  connected  with  the  Hamilton 
Iron  Company,  married  Louise  C.  Ham- 
ilton and  has  a  daughter,  Jane  Hamilton 
Stewart ;  ii.  Paul  Bryant  Stewart,  born 
April  5,  1886,  now  a  practicing  physician 
of  Warren,  Pennsylvania,  married  Helen 
Alice  Seigfred,  and  has  two  sons,  Rich- 
ard Seigfred  and  John  Seigfred  Stewart. 


BALDWIN,  William  C, 

Manufacturer. 

When  Jared  R.  Baldwin,  the  first  of  the 
family  to  settle  in  the  Wyoming  Valley 
of  Pennsylvania,  died  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
four,  he  had  compiled  a  record  of  use- 
fulness as  farmer  and  citizen  which 
included  a  great  deal  of  public  service. 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Charles  B. 
Baldwin,  whose  life  was  correspondingly 
valuable,  but  was  cut  short  in  its  prime. 
His  son,  William  C.  Baldwin,  is  the  pres- 
ent representative  of  the  family  in  Wyom- 
ing, and  one  of  the  substantial  men  of  the 
borough. 

Baldwin  is  an  old  Scandinavian  name, 
meaning  "Bold  Winner,"  or  "bold  cour- 
ageous   friend."      It    is    found    in    many 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


tongues;  in  Latin  it  is  Baldwins,  in 
French,  Baudouin,  in  Italian,  Baldino  and 
Balduino,  in  English,  Baldwin.  One  of 
the  first  of  the  name  to  appear  that 
attained  prominence  was  Baldwin,  son  of 
Gan,  a  young  French  knight,  killed  with 
so  many  other  noble  youths  at  the  battle 
of  Rocenvalles,  A.  D.  778.  Another  is 
named  Baldwin,  son  of  Ogier,  the  Dane 
who  was  slain  by  Charlemange.  In  837, 
"Baldwin  of  the  Iron  Arm"  founded 
Bruges ;  that  Baldwin  married  Judith, 
the  fair  daughter  of  Charles  of  France, 
and  their  descendants  ruled  the  Duke- 
dom of  Flanders  from  837  to  1 195.  Many 
Baldwins  fought  in  the  Crusades  and  one 
of  them  was  made  the  first  King  of  Jeru- 
salem after  Godfrey  Bullon  conquered  the 
important  cities  on  the  seacoast  of  Pales- 
tine. A  Baldwin  was  Emperor  of  Con- 
stantinople in  1204.  A  Baldwin  was  an 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  Matilda 
Baldwin  married  William,  the  Conqueror, 
and  went  to  England  with  him.  Their 
son  ruled  Normandy,  and  their  son  Wil- 
liam Rufus  succeeded  his  father  as  King 
of  England.  The  pages  of  English  his- 
tory teem  with  Baldwin  achievement,  and 
in  every  walk  of  life  they  are  found.  Of 
the  region  from  whence  came  the  Bald- 
wins, Bryants,  Fenns  and  Fowlers,  of 
Milford,  Connecticut,  in  1638,  it  is  writ- 
ten :  "The  woods  of  Hampden  and  to 
the  north  upon  the  brow  of  a  lofty  hill 
called  Green  Holly.  In  the  side  of  this 
chalk  hill  is  cut  'Whiteleaf  Cross.' "  It 
is  about  100  feet  long  by  seventy  wide 
and  made  by  cutting  off  the  turf  and 
leaving  the  bare  chalk  visible  for  many 
miles.  This  monument  is  of  great  age 
intended  to  commemorate  a  battle  be- 
tween the  Saxons  and  Danes.  The  usual 
Arms  of  the  Baldwins  were :  Three  Oak 
leaves  slipped  or  six  in  pairs,  two  in  chief 
and  one  in  base  bent  stalks,  their  points 
downward.     With   these  the   usual   crest 


is:  Squirrel  Segant  a  squirrel  sitting 
Colored  in  Gold. 

The  first  Baldwin  settlers  in  New  Eng- 
land were  all  related,  but  not  all  brothers. 
The  name  has  extended  all  over  the 
United  States,  and  Baldwins  are  honor- 
ably represented  in  the  professions,  busi- 
ness and  in  public  life.  A  Henry  Bald- 
win was  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States ;  several  have  been 
governors  of  States ;  members  of  Con- 
gress ;  generals  in  the  Army ;  Divines 
and  authors.  An  Abram  Baldwin  sat  as 
a  delegate  in  the  convention  which 
framed  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States ;  Matthias  Baldwin  was  an  expert 
machinist,  rising  from  lowly  position  to 
be  the  head  of  a  great  plant,  building 
locomotives,  and  wherever  there  is  a 
railroad  there  is  a  Baldwin  locomotive. 
The  coat-of-arms  used  by  the  Connecti- 
cut family  of  Baldwins  is  thus  described: 
Argent:  A  Saltire  Sable.  Crest:  On  a 
mount  Vert,  a  Cockatrice  Agent  combed 
wattled  and  beaded  or,  ducally  gorged 
and  lined  of  the  last. 

John  Baldwin,  the  founder  of  this 
branch,  was  born  in  England,  came  to 
New  Haven  early  in  life,  and  in  1639  was 
among  the  first  planters  of  Milford,  Con- 
necticut. He  joined  the  Milford  Church, 
March  19,  1648,  and  his  mortal  remains 
were  laid  at  rest,  June  21,  1681.  Both  his 
wives  were  named  Mary,  the  second  wife, 
Mary  Buren,  coming  from  Stapleton  in 
Cheshire,  England.  She  died  September 
2,  1670.  There  is  no  further  record  of 
Mary,  the  first  wife,  save  that  she  was  the 
mother  of  John  (2)  Baldwin,  through 
whom  this  line  continues.  Joseph,  born 
in  1642;  Samuel,  1645;  Nathaniel,  Eliza- 
beth, and  Joseph,  the  last  named  bap- 
tized November  9,  165 1.  John  (1)  Bald- 
win also  had  issue  by  his  second  wife, 
and    from    him    sprang    a    long    line    of 


94 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


descendants  eminent  in  Connecticut  and 
in  other  States  of  the  Union. 

John  (2)  Baldwin,  eldest  child  of  John 
(1)  Baldwin  and  his  first  wife,  Mary, 
was  born  in  Milford,  Connecticut,  in 
1640,  and  baptized  in  the  Milford  church, 
March  26,  1648,  his  father  having  joined 
the  church  the  previous  Sunday.  He 
married  (second)  Ruth  Botsford,  they  the 
parents  of  Nathaniel  Baldwin,  born  in 
1690,  through  whom  the  line  is  traced. 
Nathaniel  Baldwin  married  (first)  Mary 
Conger,  they  the  parents  of  Elijah  Bald- 
win, born  in  1717.  The  line  continues 
through  Nathaniel  Baldwin,  son  of  Eli- 
jah Baldwin  ;  Jared  R.,  son  of  Nathaniel ; 
Charles  B.,  son  of  Jared  R. ;  William  C, 
to  whom  this  review  is  inscribed,  son  of 
Charles  B.  and  Laura  (Camfield)  Bald- 
win. 

Jared  R.  Baldwin,  born  in  1798,  came  to 
the  Wyoming  Valley  from  Newark,  New 
Jersey,  settling  in  Jackson  township,  be- 
tween Trucksville  and  Huntsville.  There 
he  purchased  a  farm  of  two  hundred  acres 
of  unimproved  land,  which  he  cleared  and 
brought  under  cultivation  and  managed 
until  his  death  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty- 
four.  He  was  not  the  first  of  his  family 
in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  another  Jared 
Baldwin,  son  of  Caleb  of  Milford,  Con- 
necticut, having  moved  to  Luzerne 
county  after  the  Revolutionary  War  in 
which  he  served,  and  settled  on  a  large 
tract  not  far  from  where  Jared  R.  later 
came.  His  wife  was  Damaris  Booth,  and 
they  reared  a  large  family.  Jared  R.  Bald- 
win served  his  township  as  recorder  and 
justice  of  the  peace  for  many  years,  and 
after  the  formation  of  the  Republican 
party  affiliated  with  that  political  organ- 
ization. He  married  Mary  Baker,  daugh- 
ter of  John  Baker,  a  soldier  of  the  Revo- 
lution, they  the  parents  of  Jeanette  L., 
Elizabeth,  Philo  B.,  Andrew  J.,  E.  Bowen, 
Charles  B.,  of  further  mention ;  and  Ma- 
tilda W.  Baldwin. 


Charles  B.  Baldwin,  youngest  son  of 
Jared  R.  and  Mary  (Baker)  Baldwin, 
was  born  in  Jackson  township,  Luzerne 
county,  Pennsylvania,  1829,  died  May  3, 
1880.  He  obtained  a  good  education  in 
the  schools  of  his  section,  and  for  five 
years  after  completing  his  own  studies 
taught  in  the  neighborhood  schools.  He 
settled  in  Nicholson,  Wyoming  county, 
Pennsylvania,  there  engaging  as  a  con- 
tracting carpenter  and  builder,  having 
previously  learned  the  carpenter's  trade. 
In  1869,  he  moved  to  Wyoming,  Luzerne 
county,  there  continuing  his  contracting 
business  and  erecting  many  houses  and 
other  buildings  in  and  around  Wyoming, 
continuing  active  in  his  building  opera- 
tions until  his  early  death  at  the  age  of 
fifty-two.  Mr.  Baldwin  was  a  member 
of     the     Masonic     order,     belonging     to 

Wyoming  Lodge ;  Chapter,  Royal 

Arch  Masons ;  and  De  le  Veut  Com- 
mandery,  Knights  Templar.  In  religious 
faith  he  was  a  Methodist  Episcopal,  be- 
longing to  the  Wyoming  congregation. 

He  married  Laura  Camfield,  of  Trucks- 
ville, Pennsylvania,  they  the  parents  of 
William  C,  of  further  mention ;  Andrew, 
deceased  ;    and  Wesley,  deceased. 

William  C.  Baldwin  of  the  eighth 
American  generation  of  his  family,  eld- 
est and  only  living  son  of  Charles  B.  and 
Laura  (Camfield)  Baldwin,  was  born  at 
Trucksville,  Luzerne  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, May  17,  1852,  and  obtained  his  edu- 
cation in  the  public  schools.  He  began 
his  business  life  early,  his  first  venture 
being  as  newsboy  on  a  railroad  train. 
From  the  train  he  graduated  to  a  more 
stable  occupation,  learning  the  painter's 
trade,  which  he  followed  for  a  few  years. 
He  then  became  a  traveling  salesman  for 
different  firms,  and  for  twenty-two  years 
he  followed  that  line  of  business  activity. 
In  1902,  he  began  the  manufacture  of  cold 
water  paints,  and  in  that  line  his  energy 
and  ability  has  been  amply  rewarded,  as 


95 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


his  paints  are  sold  all  over  the  world. 
His  success  has  been  fairly  earned,  and 
is  built  upon  quality  of  goods  and  integ- 
rity of  character.  He  is  one  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  original  board  of  directors  of 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Wyoming. 
He  is  an  attendant  of  the  services  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church.  He  is  a 
man  of  quiet,  home-loving  disposition, 
taking  no  active  part  in  public  affairs,  but 
is  highly  esteemed  in  his  community. 

Mr.  Baldwin  married,  July  23,  1873, 
Annie  Jenkins,  born  August  12,  1854, 
daughter  of  George  and  Emma  (Rinker) 
Jenkins,  of  Wyoming  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Middletown,  New  York.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Baldwin  are  the  parents  of: 
Clarence,  born  May  28,  1874,  married 
Helen  Williams;  Harry  J.,  born  Decem- 
ber 25,  1877,  married  Laura  Frederick, 
their  children,  Joseph,  William  and  Harry 
J.  2.  Ethel,  born  November  23,  1893, 
married  George  Williams,  and  died  De- 
cember 20,  1916,  leaving  a  child  named 
Mason  Baldwin  Williams. 


SUNSTEIN,  Abraham  J., 

Manufacturer. 

Among  well-known  Pittsburgh  busi- 
ness men  is  Abraham  J.  Sunstein,  one  of 
the  active  factors  in  manufacturing  cir- 
cles. He  was  born  January  26,  1861,  son 
of  the  late  Cass  and  Tillie  (Shapira)  Sun- 
stein. 

Abraham  J.  Sunstein  was  reared  and 
educated  in  Pittsburgh.  Since  early 
youth  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  whole- 
sale liquor  and  distilling  business,  the 
firm  name  being  C.  Sunstein  &  Sons  and 
the  Thompson  Distilling  Company.  Mr. 
Sunstein  has  been  very  active  in  State 
and  National  distillers'  organizations,  and 
was  president  of  the  National  Wholesale 
Liquor  Dealers'  Association  for  a  number 
of  years.    As  a  public-spirited  citizen,  Mr. 


Sunstein  is  always  ready  to  give  prac- 
tical aid  to  any  movement  which  in  his 
judgment  would  advance  the  public  wel- 
fare. Although  he  has  been  and  is  far 
too  busy  a  man  to  take  any  active  part 
in  politics,  no  man  is  more  keenly  alive  to 
the  affairs  of  the  City  and  State,  concern- 
ing which  his  advice  is  often  sought.  His 
allegiance  is  given  to  the  Republican 
party,  but  he  has  steadily  refused  to  par- 
ticipate in  political  controversies  or  to 
become  a  candidate  for  office.  He  is  a 
member  of  Rodef  Shalom  congregation, 
and  has  been  for  many  years  a  member 
of  its  board  of  trustees.  Mr.  Sunstein 
is  also  trustee  in  a  number  of  local  and 
national  philanthropic  associations.  The 
personal  qualities  of  Mr.  Sunstein  are 
such  as  to  win  for  him  the  warm  regard 
of  a  large  circle  of  friends.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Westmoreland  Country  Club, 
the  Press  Club  of  Pittsburgh,  the  Ameri- 
cus  Club  and  the  Concordia  Club.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
being  a  member  of  Allequippa  Lodge,  No. 
375,  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  Pittsburgh,  member  of  the 
United  States  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and 
member  of  the  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Sunstein  married,  October  27, 
1887,  Nora  Oppenheimer,  of  Pittsburgh, 
and  they  are  the  parents  of  the  following 
children :  Tillie,  wife  of  A.  C.  Speyer,  of 
Pittsburgh;  and  A.  Cass,  born  in  1891, 
married  Aimee  Rauh,  of  Pittsburgh. 


SCHAPPERT,  N.  Louis,  M.  D., 

Physician. 

Dr.  N.  Louis  Schappert,  of  No.  57 
South  Washington  street,  Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
specialists  in  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose 
and  throat  in  this  part  of  the  State,  is  a 
member  of  a  family  that  has  resided  in 


96 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


this  city  for  many  years,  being  founded 
here  by  his  grandparents,  Anthony  and 
Margaret  (Reinhart)  Schappert,  both 
born  in  Reborn,  Bavaria,  who  came  to 
this  country  in  the  year  1854.  Anthony 
Schappert  was  a  prosperous  merchant  in 
Bavaria,  and  also  in  this  country  after  his 
arrival  here.  He  settled  at  Wilkes-Barre, 
where  he  lived  for  a  time,  but  later  re- 
moved to  Hanover  township.  He  and  his 
wife  were  the  parents  of  eleven  children : 
Anthony,  Jr. ;  John ;  Catherine,  who 
became  the  wife  of  Anthony  Reber; 
Henry;  Joseph;  Elizabeth,  who  became 
the  wife  of  John  Schaab  ;  Margaret,  who 
became  the  wife  of  Adam  Scheidel ;  Jacob  ; 
Peter,  mentioned  below ;  Michael,  and 
George. 

Peter  Schappert,  the  father  of  the  Dr. 
Schappert  of  this  sketch,  was  born  April 
30,  1840,  in  Reborn,  Bavaria,  Germany, 
and  passed  the  first  fourteen  years  of  his 
life  in  his  native  land.  In  1S66  he  entered 
the  hotel  business  and  met  with  great 
success,  becoming  the  proprietor  of 
Schappert's  Hotel  in  1885,  one  of  the 
most  remunerative  houses  in  the  city. 
He  conducted  this  until  1896,  and  then 
retired  from  active  business  life.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church, 
and  a  Democrat  in  politics.  He  married, 
October  6,  1864,  Sophia  Smith,  daughter 
of  Peter  and  Catherine  (Thorn)  Smith, 
born  in  Haimbach,  Prussia,  Germany, 
and  they  became  the  parents  of  the  fol- 
lowing children :  Amelia,  who  became 
the  wife  of  Fred  J.  Stegmaier ;  Wina,  who 
resides  with  Mrs.  Fred  J.  Stegmaier;  P. 
George,  who  resides  in  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  where  he  is  engaged  in  a  success- 
ful mercantile  enterprise ;  Emma,  who 
became  Mrs.  J.  William  Morris ;  Louise, 
who  became  the  wife  of  William  Goeckel ; 
and  N.  Louis,  with  whom  we  are  here 
particularly  concerned.  Peter  Schappert 
pa— 10— 7  97 


died  January  27,  1903,  and  his  wife,  May 
19,  1899. 

Born  June  10,  1876,  at  Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania,  Dr.  N.  Louis  Schappert 
attended  the  St.  Nicholas  School  and  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  city.  He 
then  went  to  Brooklyn,  New  York,  where 
he  secured  a  position  in  the  pharmacy  of 
John  Krausche.  In  1892  he  went  to 
Hazleton,  Pennsylvania,  and  there  entered 
the  office  of  Dr.  William  R.  Longshore, 
and  took  charge  of  his  drug  department. 
He  had  conceived  an  ambition  to  follow 
the  medical  profession  himself  and,  under 
the  preceptorship  of  Dr.  Longshore,  stud- 
ied zealously  his  chosen  subject.  In  the 
year  1893  he  went  to  Philadelphia  and 
there  attended  a  course  of  lectures  for 
three  years  at  the  Medico-Chirurgical 
College,  returning  during  the  summer 
vacation  in  each  year  to  Hazleton  to 
assist  Dr.  Longshore.  In  1896-97  he  took 
a  post-graduate  course  in  diseases  of  the 
eye,  ear,  nose  and  throat  at  the  Polyclinic 
Hospital  in  Philadelphia,  while  at  the 
same  time  he  assisted  Professor  Webster 
Fox  in  the  eye  department  of  the  Medico- 
Chirurgical  Hospital.  It  was  in  the 
month  of  January,  1898,  that  he  came 
to  Wilkes-Barre  and  here  established 
■himself  in  general  practice.  For  three 
years  he  continued  thus  engaged,  and 
then  turned  his  attention  exclusively  to 
the  subject  in  which  he  has  since  special- 
ized. In  this  branch  of  his  profession 
the  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose  and 
throat,  he  has  built  up  a  very  large  and 
successful  practice.  His  office  was  located 
during  the  time  of  his  general  practice  on 
Northampton  street,  but  upon  taking  up 
his  specialty  he  moved  to  No.  31  South 
Washington  street.  When  he  first  came 
to  the  city  he  was  appointed  a  member 
of  the  staff  of  Mercy  Hospital.  In  1907 
he  removed  to  his  present  offices  at  No. 
57  South  Washington  street,  and  here  has 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


conducted  his  most  successful  practice 
ever  since.  In  1912  he  was  appointed  to 
the  staff  of  the  Wilkes-Barre  City  Hos- 
pital, and  at  the  same  time  resigned  from 
Mercy  Hospital  with  which  he  had  been 
connected  for  a  number  of  years.  Dr. 
Schappert  is  an  active  member  of  the 
Luzerne  County  Medical  Society,  the 
Pennslyvania  State  Medical  Society,  the 
American  Medical  Association,  the  Webs- 
ter Fox  Society  of  Philadelphia,  and  the 
James  M.  Anders  Medical  Society  of  that 
city.  He  also  is  affiliated  with  Council 
No.  302,  Knights  of  Columbus,  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  the" local  body  of  the  Benevolent 
and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  and  the 
Gesang  Verein  Concordia.  Dr.  Schap- 
pert is  a  member  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  and  attends  the  Church  of  St. 
Nicholas  in  Wilkes-Barre.  He  is  a  Re- 
publican in  politics. 

On  April  29,  1908,  Dr.  Schappert  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Clare  L.  Boos, 
daughter  of  Jacob  and  Caroline  (Kind- 
ler)  Boos,  natives  of  Huntington,  Indi- 
ana. Dr.  and  Mrs.  Schappert  reside  at 
No.  251  South  River  street,  and  are  the 
parents  of  the  following  children :  Fred- 
erick, born  January  9,  1912 ;  Clare,  born 
January  21,  1915 ;  and  Maurice,  born 
April  8,  1917. 


HOOK,  Virgil  A., 

Osteopathist. 

Dr.  Hook,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  enjoys  the 
distinction  of  having  been  the  first  of 
his  profession  to  practice  Osteopathy  in 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  proud 
possessor  of  the  first  license  issued  in  the 
State  to  his  profession.  He  furthermore 
founded  and  conducted  the  first  School 
of  Osteopathy  in  the  East,  and  from  that 
institution,  the  Atlantic  School  of  Oesteo- 
pathy,  went  out  many  healers  to  minis- 
ter   to    human    ills    without   the   use    of 


drugs.  As  an  exponent  of  the  "drugless" 
treatment,  he  occupies  a  leading  position 
in  his  profession,  and  continues  practice 
in  Wilkes-Barre,  but  the  institution  he 
founded  was  removed  to  Buffalo,  New 
York,  in  1904. 

Virgil  A.  Hook  is  a  grandson  of  Mat- 
thias Hook,  a  native  of  Ohio,  who  with 
his  family  moved  to  Shelbyville,  Ken- 
tucky, where  he.  engaged  in  farming. 
His  son,  James  Henry  Hook,  was  born 
September,  1824,  in  Ohio,  and  died  in 
Kirksville,  Missouri,  in  1908.  He  was 
eight  years  of  age  in  1832,  when  his  par- 
ents moved  from  Ohio  to  Shelbyville, 
and  there  he  grew  to  manhood  at  the 
farm  his  father  purchased.  He  remained 
at  the  Shelbyville,  Kentucky,  farm  until 
reaching  legal  age,  then  went  to  the  State 
of  Iowa,  there  purchasing  a  farm  upon 
which  the  city  of  Keokuk  now  partly 
stands.  He  built  a  house  on  the  Iowa 
farm  and  there  continued  an  agriculturist 
until  about  i860,  then  sold  his  property, 
and  moved  to  Scotland  county,  Missouri, 
where  he  purchased  a  farm  covered  with 
natural  timber.  This  tract  he  cleared, 
brought  under  cultivation,  and  thereon 
resided  several  years.  After  selling  his 
farm  in  Scotland  county,  he  settled  on  a 
Government  grant  of  a  quarter  section 
under  the  homestead  law,  and  there  he 
built  a  house  and  resided  until  his  clos- 
ing years.  He  was  a  very  devout  and 
prominent  member  of  the  Christian 
church,  belonged  to  the  Masonic  order, 
and  in  every  community  in  which  he 
resided  was  esteemed  by  his  neighbors 
as  a  man  of  energy,  intelligence  and  integ- 
rity. 

James  Henry  Hook  married  Sarah  A. 
Morris,  born  in  1828,  died  in  1907,  daugh- 
ter of  Richard  Morris,  of  an  old  Ken- 
tucky family.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hook  were 
the  parents  of  sixteen  children,  thirteen 
of  whom  grew  to  mature  years,  and  all 


98 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


are  living  but  one.  These  are:  Phoebe 
Ann,  Nancy  C,  Matthias,  Henry  C, 
Susan  Elva,  Mary  Jane,  deceased ;  Albert 
E.,  John  P.,  Virgil  A.,  of  further  men- 
tion; Emma  E.,  Ida  May,  Rebecca,  and 
Charles  O. 

Virgil  A.  Hook,  son  of  James  Henry 
and  Sarah  A.  (Morris)  Hook,  was  born 
at  Bible  Grove,  Scotland  county,  Mis- 
souri, October  13,  1861.  He  was  quite 
young  when  his  parents  moved  to  the 
Government  claim  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  in  Sullivan  county,  Missouri, 
and  in  both  Scotland  and  Sullivan  county 
public  schools  he  secured  a  good,  prepar- 
atory education.  He  then  entered  the 
Missouri  State  Normal  School  at  Kirks- 
ville,  there  completing  the  required 
courses.  After  graduation  he  spent 
twelve  years  in  the  West,  returning  to 
Kirksville,  in  1894.  He  there  prepared 
for  the  profession  he  has  since  fol- 
lowed, Osteopathy,  entering  the  Ameri- 
can School  of  Osteopathy  in  Kirksville, 
continuing  through  a  full  course,  ending 
with  graduation  in  1898.  He  practiced  in 
his  home  locality  for  a  few  months,  then 
settled  in  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  has  since  practiced  his  profes- 
sion very  successfully.  His  first  location 
was  in  the  Simon  Long  building,  but  a 
year  later  he  established  the  Atlantic 
School  of  Osteopathy,  bought  the  old 
church  on  Ross  street  as  a  home  for  both 
the  school  and  his  private  practice.  This 
school,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  East, 
was  conducted  personally  by  Dr.  Hook, 
and  under  his  guidance  many  students 
were  instructed,  graduated,  and  sent  out 
as  duly  certified  practitioners  of  the 
"drugless"  method  of  treating  human 
ailments.  In  1904  the  school  was  removed 
to  Buffalo,  New  York,  Dr.  Hook's  con- 
nection with  it  then  ending.  His  offices 
are  now  located  in  the  Second  National 
Bank  building,  and  in  commodious,  suit- 


able rooms  he  ministers  to  a  large  clien- 
tele without  the  aid  of  drugs. 

Outside  his  professional  practice,  Dr. 
Hook  has  many  interests  of  varied 
nature.  Appointed  by  Governor  Tener, 
and  re-appointed  by  Governor  Brum- 
baugh, he  served  six  years  as  a  member 
of  the  State  Board  of  Examiners  of  Os- 
teopathy. He  was  secretary-treasurer  of 
the  board  during  his  term  of  office,  from 
which  he  resigned  in  1917,  the  demands 
of  his  practice  forbidding  that  he  longer 
continue  in  the  State  service.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  and 
the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  is  a 
Republican  in  politics,  and  in  religious 
preference  is  of  the  Christian  church. 

Dr.  Hook  married,  October  30,  1883, 
Sophronia  Bailey,  of  Green  City,  Mis- 
souri, and  they  are  the  parents  of  a  son, 
Roy  C.  Hook,  now  residing  in  Trenton, 
New  Jersey. 


SCHREINER,  John  W., 

Contractor,  Pnblio  Official. 

Since  the  year  1898,  Mr.  Schreiner  has 
been  engaged  in  business  under  his  own 
name  as  a  contractor  of  rock  work,  sink- 
ing shafts  and  driving  tunnels,  slopes  and 
kindred  work  of  many  kinds.  He  is  one 
of  the  successful  business  men  of  Nanti- 
coke,  Pennsylvania,  well  known  and 
highly  esteemed.  He  is  a  grandson  of 
John  Schreiner,  who  came  to  Pennsyl- 
vania from  Germany  in  1853,  located  in 
Hazleton,  Luzerne  county.  He  left  sons, 
George  F.  and  Adam,  and  a  daughter, 
Barbara. 

George  F.  Schreiner,  the  eldest  son, 
was  born  in  Germany  in  1839,  and  four- 
teen years  later  was  brought  by  his  par- 
ents to  this  country.  He  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  of  Hazleton,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  after  completing  his  school 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


years  learned  the  blacksmith's  trade  at 
Sybertsville,  Sugar  Loaf  township,  Lu- 
zerne county.  He  followed  his  trade  half 
a  dozen  years,  then  purchased  a  farm  in 
Butler  township,  upon  which  he  lived  in 
contentment  and  prosperity  until  his 
retirement  in  1901.  After  retiring  from 
active  life  he  settled  in  Freeland,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  there  now  resides.  He 
married  Elizabeth  J.  Stump,  they  the 
parents  of  fifteen  sons  and  daughters, 
eight  now  surviving:  Elizabeth,  married 
Stephen  Woodring;  John  W.,  of  fur- 
ther mention ;  Catherine,  married  George 
E.  Hoffsomer;  George,  now  in  business 
in  Philadelphia ;  August,  now  in  busi- 
ness in  Pittsburgh ;  Lewis,  a  resident  of 
Jeddo,  Pennsylvania ;  Irene,  married  Fos- 
ter Beisel ;  Harry,  now  serving  in  the 
United  States  Army. 

John  W.  Schreiner,  son  of  George  F. 
and  Elizabeth  J.  (Stump)  Schreiner,  was 
born  at  Hazelbrook,  Luzerne  county, 
Pennsylvania,  June  15,  1867.  He  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Butler 
Valley,  and  early  began  learning  the 
blacksmith's  trade,  becoming  a  skilled 
worker  in  metal.  He  was  employed  by 
the  Sandy  Run  Coal  Company,  as  black- 
smith, and  later  by  Davis,  Binnin  & 
Moser,  rock  contractors,  continuing  until 
1890,  when  he  located  in  Nanticoke,  and 
for  eight  years  was  in  the  employ  of 
various  concerns,  four  of  these  years 
being  spent  with  the  Delaware,  Lacka- 
wanna &  Western  Coal  Company.  In 
1898  he  began  business  for  himself,  and 
has  built  up  a  large  contracting  business 
in  tunnel  driving  and  shaft  sinking,  the 
Lehigh  &  Wilkes-Barre  Coal  Company 
being  his  largest  and  most  constant 
patron.  He  is  the  most  successful,  best 
known  and  prominent  rock  contractor  in 
his  section,  and  is  very  popular.  He  is 
secretary-treasurer  of  the  Benjamin  & 
Schreiner  Construction  Company,  a  direc- 


tor of  the  Nanticoke  National  Bank,  direc- 
tor of  the  Susquehanna  Lumber  Com- 
pany, director  of  the  Nanticoke  Construc- 
tion Company,  and  is  identified  with  all 
that  pertains  to  the  welfare  of  Nanti- 
coke. He  is  prominent  in  the  councils  of 
the  Republican  party,  and  served  as  coun- 
cilman of  the  Fifth  Ward  of  Nanticoke 
for  four  years  on  the  Republican  ticket, 
and  was  president  of  the  board  for  three 
years.  He  was  connected  with  the  Vol- 
unteer Fire  Department  of  Nanticoke  for 
twelve  years. 

In  Free  Masonry,  Mr.  Schreiner  holds 
all  degrees  of  the  York  Rite,  and  is  a  past 
master  of  Nanticoke  Lodge,  No.  541, 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  a  companion 
of  Nanticoke  Chapter,  Royal  Arch  Ma- 
sons, a  sir  knight  of  Caldwell  Consistory, 
of  Bloomsburg,  Pennsylvania ;  and  a 
noble  of  Irem  Temple,  Ancient  Arabic 
Order  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  of 
Wilkes-Barre.  In  Scottish  Rite  Ma- 
sonry he  has  attained  the  thirty-second 
degree.  Other  orders  to  which  he  belongs 
are :  Nanticoke  Council,  Junior  Order 
United  American  Mechanics,  of  which  he 
is  past  councillor;  the  Fraternal  Order  of 
Eagles ;  the  Order  of  Owls :  and  the  Pa- 
triotic Order  Sons  of  America. 

Mr.  Schreiner  married,  October  4, 
1904,  Elizabeth  J.  Rees,  born  December 
27,  1875,  daughter  of  Morgan  and  Anna 
Rees,  of  Nanticoke.  They  are  the  par- 
ents of:  Glenwood  R.,  born  July  29, 
1905;  J.  William,  born  August  5,  1907; 
Leona,  born  October  4.  1909;  and  Mor- 
gan, born  December  5,  1912. 


KISTLER,  Douglas  Seidel,  M.  D., 

Physician,  Surgeon. 

The  beautiful  three  mile  Kistlers  Val- 
ley, in  Lynn  township,  Lehigh  county, 
Pennsylvania,  was  so  named  from  the 
fact    that    its    population   was    nearly   all 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


descendants  of  the  old  German  emigrant, 
George  Kistler,  who  settled  there  in  1734, 
hence  no  name  so  appropriate  for  the 
valley  as  Kistlers.  George  Kistler  was 
the  progenitor  of  many  of  his  name,  and 
in  the  male  line  Kistlers  have  been  num- 
erous among  the  profession  and  business 
men  of  Eastern  Pennsylvania.  Dr.  Doug- 
las S.  Kistler,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsyl- 
vania, a  physician  and  surgeon  of  note, 
is  of  the  sixth  generation  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury he  has  practiced  his  healing  art  most 
successfully.  He  practices  according  to 
the  teachings  of  Hahnemann,  and  is  one 
of  the  leading  physicians  of  the  city. 

George  Kistler  came  from  the  Palatinate 
of  the  Rhine,  Germany,  in  1734,  and  settled 
in  Lynn  township,  Lehigh  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, where  he  owned  a  farm  of  three 
hundred  acres  which  he  reclaimed  from 
the  wilderness.  The  valley  in  which  he 
settled  in  time  became  so  filled  with  the 
children  and  grandchildren  of  the  founder, 
that  Kistlers  Valley  it  is  until  this  day. 
George  Kistler  not  only  cleared  his  farm 
and  built  his  farmhouse  and  barns,  but 
also  helped  to  win  freedom  for  his 
adopted  land  by  serving  in  the  Continen- 
tal Army.  He  married  and  had  a  very 
large  family  of  sons  and  daughters,  one 
of  them  Samuel,  the  next  in  this  line. 

Samuel  Kistler  was  born  at  the  Kist- 
lers Valley  homestead  in  Lehigh  county, 
Pennsylvania,  there  followed  farming  and 
operated  a  distillery  which  he  built  on  his 
farm.  He  married  and  was  the  father  of 
twelve  children,  one  of  them  a  son,  John 
Kistler,  who  was  born  at  the  old  home- 
stead in  Kistlers  Valley,  and  succeeded 
his  father  in  the  ownership  of  the  dis- 
tillery and  farm.  John  Kistler  also  mar- 
ried and  had  a  large  family,  the  next  in 
descent  being  John  (2),  known  as  "Stout" 
John  Kistler. 

"Stout"    John    Kistler   was    also   born 


at  the  Kistlers  Valley  homestead,  and 
obtained  a  good  education  in  Bloomsburg 
and  Catawissa  schools,  walking  from  the 
farm  to  school  every  day.  He  too  became 
a  farmer,  but  he  brought  new  land  into 
the  family  through  a  tract  adjoining  the 
homestead.  He  married  a  Miss  Brobst, 
of  Catawissa,  also  of  an  old  Pennsylvania 
German  family,  her  family  having  the 
distinction  of  owning  the  first  parlor 
organ  ever  brought  into  the  valley.  They 
were  both  members  of  the  German  Luth- 
eran church,  "Stout"  John  Kistler  being 
one  of  the  leaders  in  erecting  and  sup- 
porting the  church  still  standing,  known 
as  the  New  Jerusalem  or  Red  Church. 

William  Brobst  Kistler,  son  of  "Stout" 
John  Kistler,  was  born  at  the  farm  owned 
by  his  parents  in  Kistlers  Valley,  in  1828, 
and  died  in  1904.  He  came  into  posses- 
sion of  the  home  farm  and  there 
farmed,  raised  cattle  and  became  a  famous 
"drover,"  driving  his  cattle  both  East  and 
West,  crossing  the  Alleghenies  to  Pitts- 
burgh, and  was  very  successful  in  his 
dealings.  He  became  very  religious  in 
his  later  years,  joining  the  Evangelical 
church,  and  a  leader  in  his  community. 
He  was  a  man  of  strong  character,  and 
although  his  ''children  numbered  twelve, 
each  in  turn  was  given  a  good  education, 
money  being  furnished  to  carry  them  as 
far  as  they  wanted  to  go,  the  only  stipu- 
lation being  that  it  should  be  paid  back 
when  possible.  This  rule  was  faithfully 
followed  and  the  same  money  used  again 
for  the.  education  of  the  younger  children. 
Honesty,  sobriety  and  uprightness  were 
virtues  the  father  possessed,  and  these 
were  transmitted  to  his  children.  William 
B.  Kistler  married  Judith  Seidel,  of  a 
Berks  county  German  family,  her  great- 
grandparents  being  purchasers  of  a  tract 
of  three  hundred  acres  now  in  the  very 
center  of  Philadelphia,  but  the  deprecia- 
tion   of    Continental    money    so    afflicted 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


their  fortunes  that  the  deeds  were  re- 
turned and  the  sale  broken  off.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Kistler  were  the  parents  of  thirteen 
sons  and  daughters,  the  Kistler  home  the 
community  educational  center  of  their 
district. 

Dr.  Douglas  Seidel  Kistler,  son  of  Wil- 
liam Brobst  and  Judith  (Seidel)  Kistler, 
was  born  at  Lynnville,  Lehigh  county, 
Pennsylvania,  July  19,  1872.  After  ex- 
hausting the  advantages  of  the  village 
public  school,  he  attended  Kutztown  Nor- 
mal School,  and  after  one  term  taught 
school  for  two  years  in  Schuylkill  and 
Berks  counties.  He  then  began  the  study 
of  medicine  at  Hahnemann  Medical  Col- 
lege, Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  and  in 
1893,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  he 
was  graduated  M.  D.  The  same  year  he 
located  in  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania, 
and  there  has  since  practiced  his  profes- 
sion very  successfully.  His  offices  for 
the  first  seven  years  were  on  South  Main 
street,  but  in  1900  he  moved  to  No.  307 
South  Franklin  street  and  there  has  since 
remained.  He  possesses  the  perfect  con- 
fidence of  a  large  clientele,  and  is  held 
in  high  esteem  by  his  brethren  of  the  pro- 
fession, regardless  of  school.  Dr.  Kist- 
ler was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Wyom- 
ing Valley  Homoepathic  Hospital,  and  is 
now  attending  surgeon.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Luzerne  County,  the  Interstate 
and  the  Pennsylvania  State  Homoeo- 
pathic Medical  societies;  the  American 
Institute  of  Homoeopathy;  a  trustee  of 
Albright  College,  Lebanon,  Pennsyl- 
vania ;  a  director  of  the  Fortyfort  Land 
Company  of  Fortyfort,  Pennsylvania ; 
a  member  of  the  United  Evangelical 
church,  and  organizer  of  a  large  Bible 
class,  which  in  the  past  fifteen  years  has 
enrolled  one  thousand  men  as  members. 
He  has  given  of  the  strength  of  his  man- 
hood to  his  profession  and  to  good  works. 


his  record  in  the  community  being  one 
of  honor  and  usefulness. 

Dr.  Kistler  married  (first)  Sallie  Kun- 
kle,  born  October  16,  1873,  died  June  19, 
1894,  daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Clara 
(Hartman)  Kunkle.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Kist- 
ler were  the  parents  of  twin  boys,  Rob- 
ert B.,  born  June  19,  1894,  a  graduate  of 
Dickinson  College,  class  of  1913,  now  a 
student  at  Hahnemann  Medical  College, 
Philadelphia;  Walter  W.,  born  June  19, 
1894,  a  graduate  of  the  same  college  as  his 
brother,  Robert  B.,  same  class,  also  a 
student  at  Hahnemann.  Both  these 
young  men  volunteered  for  service  in  the 
United  States  Reserve  Medical  Corps, 
were  accepted  and  sent  back  to  college  on 
furlough  to  complete  their  medical  stud- 
ies. Dr.  Kistler  married  (second)  Sep- 
tember 16,  1896,  Estelle  M.  Roll,  daugh- 
ter of  Leonard  and  Esther  Jane  (Ebert) 
Roll.  Their  children  are:  Marion,  born 
July  15,  1898,  now  a  student  at  Drexel 
Institute,  Philadelphia;  Marjorie,  born 
March  15,  1900,  a  student  at  Swarthmore 
College,  near  Philadelphia;  Douglas  S., 
Jr.,  died  in  infancy,  and  Paul,  born  March 
1 6,  1906. 


HOLLISTER,  William  Henry, 

Active  in  Community  Affairs, 

The  mining  borough  of  Avoca,  at  the 
junction  of  the  Lackawanna  and  Wyom- 
ing Valley,  eight  miles  south  of  Scranton, 
and  ten  miles  northeast  of  Wilkes-Barre, 
has  since  1876  been  the  home  and  busi- 
ness headquarters  of  William  H.  Hollis- 
ter,  Who  opened  a  general  store  there,  and 
for  forty-two  years,  1876-1918,  has  been 
its  active  head,  although  he  has  been 
engaged  in  many  other  enterprises  during 
that  period.  He  is  a  son  of  Amos  G.  Hol- 
lister,  a  prosperous  farmer  of  Susque- 
hanna county,  Pennsylvania,  a  Univer- 
salist   in   religion,   and   a   man   of  strong 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


character.  Amos  G.  Hollister  married 
Lydia  Tiffany,  and  they  were  the  par- 
ents of  three  daughters  and  three  sons : 
Eliza,  married  Dr.  E.  A.  Kent;  Amos  P., 
a  veteran  of  the  Civil  War,  married  Har- 
riet E.  Kent;  Cora  S.,  married  R.  K. 
Bailey ;  Sade,  married  Almon  Wood- 
worth  ;  William  Henry,  of  further  men- 
tion; Orville  D.,  a  farmer  of  Newton 
township. 

William  Henry  Hollister,  second  son  of 
Amos  G.  and  Lydia  (Tiffany)  Hollis- 
ter, was  born  at  Dimock,  Susquehanna 
county,  Pennsylvania,  September  29, 
1850,  and  spent  the  first  twelve  years  of 
his  life  upon  his  father's  farm,  beginning 
his  education  in  the  public  school.  At 
the  age  of  twelve  years  he  was  taken  to 
Brooklyn,  Susquehanna  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  completed  his  studies  in 
select  and  high  schools,  began  his  busi- 
ness life  and  remained  there  until  the  age 
of  twenty-three.  'He  then  spent  three 
years  in  Scranton,  with  the  firm  of  Wood- 
worth  &  Mears,  and  later  became  a  part- 
ner with  Mr.  Woodworth  in  Taylor,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  in  1876  located  in  Avoca, 
where  he  opened  a  general  store  which 
grew  with  the  village  and  is  yet  under 
the  management  of  its  first  and  only 
owner.  Avoca  has  two  great  interests, 
coal  mining  and  silk  manufacturing,  and 
with  both,  Mr.  Hollister  has  important 
connections.  His  first  years  were  devoted 
to  the  development  of  his  mercantile  ven- 
ture, but  with  that  securely  established 
he  embraced  other  opportunities.  In  1889 
he  leased  a  colliery  in  company  with  C.  C. 
Bowman,  which  was  then  owned  by  the 
Hillside  Company,  and  named  the  Avoca 
Coal  Company  of  which  Mr.  Hollister  was 
the  general  manager.  In  1898  he  became 
general  manager  of  the  Avoca  Electric 
Light  and  Heat  Company,  holding  that 
position  until  that  company  was  absorbed 
by  the  Scranton  Electric  Light  Company 


in  1906.  He  is  now  general  manager  of 
the  Franklin  Coal  Company  of  Simpson, 
Pennsylvania,  president  of  the  Mexican 
American  -Lumber  Company  of  Mexico, 
treasurer  of  the  Old  Forge  Silk  Company, 
and  director  of  the  Reliance  Coal  Com- 
pany of  Pittston,  Pennsylvania.  Other 
companies  with  which  he  has  been  iden- 
tified in  the  past  are :  The  Indicator  Con- 
struction Company  of  Scranton,  of  which 
he  was  president;  and  the  Lippincott 
Steam  Specialty  &  Supply  Company,  of 
Newark,  New  Jersey.  He  has  ever  been 
rated  as  one  of  the  able,  public-spirited 
businessmen  of  his  borough,  and  dur- 
ing his  forty-two  years  of  residence  has 
been  one  of  the  vital  forces  in  the  up- 
building of  the  borough. 

He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church  of  Avoca, 
and  for  forty  years  has  been  a  tower  of 
strength  to  that  congregation.  He  was 
chairman  of  the  original  building  com- 
mittee, and  when  the  church  edifice, 
erected  by  the  committee,  had  outlived 
its  usefulness  and  needed  to  be  rebuilt, 
Mr.  Hollister  was  chairman  of  the  build- 
ing committee.  He  is  also  president  of 
the  board  of  trustees.  In  Masonry  he 
holds  all  degrees  of  the  York  Rite,  being 
a  past  master  of  Pittston  Lodge,  No.  233, 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons ;  a  companion 
of  Pittston  Chapter,  No.  242,  Royal  Arch 
Masons ;  a  sir  knight  of  Wyoming  Com- 
mandery,  Knights  Templar;  and  a  noble 
of  Irem  Temple,  Ancient  Arabic  Order 
Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  of  Wilkes- 
Barre.  In  politics  he  is  a  Republican, 
but  has  never  sought  public  office. 

Mr.  Hollister  married,  in  1875,  Ella 
Beemer,  and  they  are  the  parents  of  two 
sons :  Claire  B.,  born  in  1877,  and  Glenn 
W.,born  in  1885,  both  educated  in  Wyom- 
ing Seminary.  Glenn  W.  Hollister  mar- 
ried Mayme  Graham,  they  the  parents  of 
a  son,  William  Henry  (2)  Hollister. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


FULLER,  Henry  Amzi, 

Lawyer,    Jurist. 

Judge  Henry  Amzi  Fuller,  one  of  the 
most  prominent  and  honored  jurists  of 
Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  a  man 
who  has  won  a  State-wide  reputation  of 
the  most  enviable  character,  comes  of  a 
family  of  lawyers,  many  members  of 
which  have  won  distinction  in  the  pro- 
fession and  all  of  whom  have  upheld  the 
best  traditions  of  the  American  bench  and 
bar. 

He  is  descended  from  New  England 
ancestry,  his  great-grandfather  having 
been  Captain  Revilo  Fuller,  of  Kent,  Con- 
necticut. Captain  Fuller's  son,  Amzi 
Fuller,  the  grandfather  of  Judge  Fuller, 
was  born  at  the  home  of  his  father  in 
Kent.  October  19,  1798,  and  died  there 
September  26,  1847.  He  had  in  the  mean- 
time resided  for  a  number  of  years  in 
Wayne  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  it  was 
in  that  region  that  his  son,  Henry  Mills 
Fuller,  was  born  at  the  town  of  Bethany. 
The  Hon.  Amzi  Fuller  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  of  Wayne  county,  August  25, 
1816,  and  to  the  bar  of  Luzerne  county, 
January  11,  1822,  and  was  a  prominent 
attorney  at  both  of  these  places.  His 
son,  Henry  Mills  Fuller,  was  born  June  3, 
1820,  in  Bethany,  and  was  graduated  from 
Princeton  College  with  the  highest  hon- 
ors in  1838,  when  only  eighteen  years  of 
age.  Having  pursued  the  usual  legal 
studies,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of 
Luzerne  county,  January  3,  1842.  His 
political  career  was  a  brilliant  one,  and  he 
was  a  staunch  member  of  the  Whig  party. 
In  October,  1848,  he  was  the  candidate  on 
the  Whig  ticket  to  represent  Luzerne 
county  in  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature 
and  was  elected  to  the  office.  The  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  nominated  and  elected 
a  canal  commissioner,  and  in  October, 
1850,  became  a  representative  from  the 


congressional  district  comprising  Luzerne 
county  to  the  United  States  Congress.  In 
1852  he  was  a  candidate  for  reelection, 
but  was  defeated  by  the  Hon.  Hendrick 
B.  Wright.  In  1854  Messrs.  Fuller  & 
Wright  were  the  opposing  candidates 
once  more,  and  this  time  Mr.  Fuller  was 
elected  to  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress  by 
a  majority  of  two  thousand  and  twenty- 
eight  votes.  When  this  Congress  con- 
vened in  December,  1855,  Mr.  Fuller  was 
put  forward  as  the  candidate  of  the  Whig 
and  National  Know-Nothing  party  for  the 
office  of  the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives. He  and  Nathaniel  P.  Banks 
(afterward  Major-General  of  Volunteers 
in  the  Union  Army)  being  the  most  prom- 
inent candidates  for  the  office.  Nearly 
two  months  elapsed  before  a  decision  was 
reached,  which  in  the  end  was  favorable 
to  Mr.  Banks.  Upon  his  retirement  from 
Congress  in  March,  1857,  Mr.  Fuller  and 
his  family  removed  to  Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania,  where'  his  death  occurred 
three  years  later,  December  26,  i860.  The 
Hon.  Henry  M.  Fuller  married  Harriett 
Irwin  Tharp,  a  daughter  of  Michael  Rose 
and  Jerusha  (Lindsley)  Tharp.  Mrs. 
Fuller  was  born  in  1822,  and  they  were 
the  parents  of  seven  children,  one  of 
whom  was  Judge  Henry  Amzi  Fuller. 

Born  January  15,  1855,  at  Wilkes- 
Barre,  Pennsylvania,  Henry  Amzi  Fuller 
was  reared  to  manhood  in  his  native  city, 
and  attended  for  his  education  the  local 
public  schools.  He  was  prepared  for  col- 
lege under  the  tuition  of  Frederick  Corss, 
M.  D.,  of  Kingston.  He  was  almost  as 
precocious  in  his  studies  as  his  father  be- 
fore him,  and  was  graduated  from  Prince- 
ton College  with  the  class  of  1874,  when 
only  nineteen  years  of  age.  He  then  en- 
tered the  law  office  of  the  Hon.  Henry  W. 
Palmer,  an  attorney  of  prominence  in 
Wilkes-Barre,  and  there  pursued  his 
chosen  subject,  which  had  become  almost 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


a  tradition  in  the  family.  He  was  admit- 
ted to  the  bar  of  Luzerne  county,  January 
9,  1877,  a  few  days  before  he  had  com- 
pleted his  twenty-second  year,  and  almost 
at  once  rose  to  a  position  of  great  promi- 
nence in  his  profession.  While  still  a 
young  man  he  became  assistant  district 
attorney  for  Luzerne  county  and  held 
that  position  under  four  different  district 
attorneys,  a  period  which  covered  ten 
years.  He  then  returned  to  private  prac- 
tice and  continued  most  successfully 
therein  until  April,  1907,  when  he  was 
appointed  by  Governor  Stewart,  judge  of 
the  Luzerne  County  Court,  to  fill  an  un- 
expired period.  Judge  Fuller  was  elected 
to  the  same  office  upon  the  expiration  of 
this  term,  and  has  for  many  years  been 
most  closely  identified  with  the  county 
court.  His  second  term  expired  in  IQ17, 
and  he  is  at  the  present  time  a  candidate 
for  reelection.  In  addition  to  his  profes- 
sional activities,  Judge  Fuller  is  a  very 
prominent  figure  in  well  nigh  every  aspect 
of  the  community's  life.  This  is  especially 
true  in  connection  with  the  church,  as 
Judge  Fuller  is  greatly  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  the  Episcopal  church  of  which 
he  is  a  member.  He  is  a  vestryman  and 
rector's  warden  of  St.  Stephen's  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church  at  Wilkes-Barre. 
Judge  Fuller  is  also  prominent  in  the  fi- 
nancial situation,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
board  of  directors  of  the  Miners'  Savings 
Bank  of  Wilkes-Barre. 

Judge  Henry  Amzi  Fuller  was  united 
in  marriage,  November  20,  1879.  with 
Ruth  Hunt  Parrish,  and  they  are  the 
parents  of  the  following  children :  John 
Torrey,  Esther,  Henry  Mills,  Charles  Par- 
rish, Ruth  Conyngham,  who  became  the 
wife  of  John  H.  Doran  ;  Emily  Lindley 
and  Joseph  Murphy. 

There  is,  of  course,  no  royal  road  to 
success.  There  is  no  road,  even  of  which 
it  may  be  said  that  it  is  superior  to  all 


others,  yet  we  can  scarcely  doubt  that 
there  are,  as  it  were,  certain  shortcuts, 
certain  stretches  of  well  travelled  way 
that  lead  rather  more  directly  and  by 
easier  stages  to  some  specific  goals  than 
do  others,  and  that  it  well  pays  those  who 
would  travel  thither  to  take  note  of  their 
existence.  Let  us  take  for  example  that 
so  widely  desired  success  in  public  life 
for  which  so  many  strive  and  so  few,  if 
any,  attain,  putting  aside  a  certain  undue 
influence  said  to  be  too  frequently  exerted 
to-day  in  this  country,  there  are  few  ways 
of  such  direct  approach  as  through  the 
time-honored  profession  of  law.  There  is 
certainly  nothing  astonishing  in  this  fact — 
and  it  surely  is  a  fact — because  the  train- 
ing, the  associations,  matters  with  which 
their  daily  work  brings  them  in  contact, 
are  of  a  kind  that  peculiarly  well  fit  the 
lawyers  for  the  tasks  of  public  office, 
many  of  which  are  merely  a  continuation 
or  slight  modification  of  their  more  pri- 
vate labors.  To  step  from  the  bar  to  pub- 
lic office  is  to  step  from  private  to  public 
life,  yet  it  involves  no  such  startling 
break  in  what  a  man  must  do,  still  less 
in  what  he  must  think,  and  although  there 
are  but  few  offices  in  which  the  transition 
is  as  direct  as  this,  yet  there  are  but  few 
to  which  the  step  is  not  comparatively 
easy.  Of  course,  it  is  not,  as  has  already 
been  remarked,  a  royal  road,  for  the  law 
is  an  exacting  mistress  and  requires  of 
her  votaries  not  merely  hard  and  con- 
centrated study  in  preparation  for  her 
practice,  but  a  sort  of  double  task  as  stu- 
dent and  business  man  as  the  condition 
of  successful  practice  throughout  the  per- 
iod in  which  they  follow  her.  Neverthe- 
less what  has  been  stated  is  unquestion- 
ably true  as  anyone  who  choses  to  ex- 
amine the  lives  of  our  public  men  in  the 
past  can  easily  discover  in  the  preponder- 
ance of  lawyers  over  men  of  other  call- 
ings  who   are   chosen    for   this   kind   of 


EXCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


advancement.  The  career  of  Judge  Fuller, 
of  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania,  is  a  case 
in  point  to  credit  the  above. 


HUGHES,  Richard  Morris, 

Business  Man. 

A  native  son  of  Pittston,  Pennsylvania, 
one  of  the  most  active  and  prominent 
business  men  of  the  city  and  a  lifelong 
resident,  there  was  no  man  more  interested 
in  Pittston's  welfare,  nor  none  more  ready 
to  do  their  part  in  furthering  movements 
promising  benefit  to  the  city  than  Rich- 
ard M.  Hughes,  whose  death,  November 
20,  1 9 1 1 ,  was  sincerely  mourned.  Not 
only  was  he  ready  to  assist  in  financing 
local  industrial  enterprises,  but  in  addi- 
tion he  put  into  every  movement  that 
interested  him  all  of  the  personal  effort  at 
his  command.  He  believed  in  doing  with 
all  his  might  what  he  put  his  hand  to,  and 
his  chief  success  in  life  lay  in  the  fact  that 
he  never  spared  himself.  He  considered 
no  personal  endeavor  too  great  if  thereby 
he  could  win  success  for  the  cause  he 
espoused,  whether  it  was  along  social, 
business  or  political  lines.  Although  he 
had  been  throughout  his  life  busy  with 
business  and  financial  enterprises,  he  had 
always  found  time  for  other  movements 
that  appealed  to  him.  He  was  an  ardent 
Republican,  and  in  addition  to  contribut- 
ing liberally  to  the  party  campaigns,  he 
was  a  personal  worker.  Every  election 
campaign,  local  and  general,  found  him 
"with  his  coat  off." 

He  was  of  Welsh  and  English  parent- 
age, son  of  Hugh  R.  and  Elizabeth 
(Hague)  Hughes.  Hugh  R.  Hughes  was 
born  at  Holyhead,  Wales,  and  died  in 
Pittston,  Pennsylvania,  in  1888.  He 
came  to  the  United  States  at  the  age  of 
nineteen,  located  in  Pottsville,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  engaged  as  a  custom 
tailor,  later  continuing  for  many  years  in 


the  same  business  at  Carbondale,  Penn- 
sylvania, afterwards  coming  to  Pittston, 
then  in  its  infancy,  and  was  engaged  in 
many  business  enterprises,  dealing  in  real 
estate  and  was  for  a  time  in  the  wholesale 
liquor  trade  and  conducted  an  ale  brew- 
ery on  Dock  street. 

Richard  Morris  Hughes  was  born  in 
Pittston,  Pennsylvania,  January  29,  1857, 
and  there  died  November  20,  191 1.  He 
was  educated  at  Wyoming  Institute  and 
Bloomsburg  State  Normal  School,  begin- 
ning his  business  life  as  his  father's  assist- 
ant in  the  management  of  the  Hughes 
Ale  Brewery.  On  March  1,  1887,  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  Joseph  H. 
Glennon,  and  purchased  the  Forest  Cas- 
tle Brewery  in  Exeter  borough,  which 
they  conducted  very  successfully  for  a 
number  of  years  under  the  firm  name, 
Hughes  &  Glennon.  The  firm  in  1897  dis- 
posed of  its  business  and  real  estate  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Central  Brewing  Company 
of  Scranton,  which  had  been  organized 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  over  under  one 
head  a  large  number  of  the  breweries  in 
Northeastern  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Hughes 
was  the  first  president  of  the  Pennsylva- 
nia Central  Company,  and  later  became 
the  vice-president.  Until  his  death  he  was 
a  member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the 
company,  and  was  also  associated  with 
other  industrial  enterprises  in  Northeast- 
ern Pennsylvania.  From  1896  he  was  a 
member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
Miners' Savings  Bank  of  Pittston,  and  was 
a  director  of  the  Clear  Spring  Coal  Com- 
pany, the  Raub  Coal  Company,  Luzerne 
County  Cut  Glass  Company,  and  at  the 
time  of  his  death  he  was  secretary  of  the 
Mountain  Spring  Ice  Company. 

Although  he  had  been  very  active  in 
the  councils  of  the  Republican  party,  Mr. 
Hughes  never  sought  any  salaried  politi- 
cal offices.     He  was  elected  a  member  of 


106 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


the  West  Pittston  School  Board  in  1898, 
and  served  very  efficiently  and  intelli- 
gently for  six  years.  For  a  number  of 
years  past  and  up  to  the  time  of  his  death 
he  was  president  of  the  West  Pittston 
Board  of  Health.  Mr.  Hughes  was  espe- 
cially prominent  in  Masonry.  He  was 
a  member  of  St.  John's  Lodge.  Free 
and  Accepted  Masons ;  Pittston  Chapter, 
Royal  Arch  Masons ;  Wyoming  Valley 
Commandery,  Knights  Templar;  Irem 
Temple,  Ancient  Arabic  Order  Nobles  of 
the  Mystic  Shrine;  the  Scranton  Con- 
sistory and  Royal  Arcanum. 

Mr.  Hughes  married,  April  16,  1879, 
Hannah  C.  Crouse,  who  survives  him, 
daughter  of  Andrew  J.  and  Ellen  (Barry) 
Crouse,  of  Wyoming,  Pennsylvania.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hughes  are  the  parents  of  three 
children:  1.  Gertrude,  married  Robert 
W.  Langford ;  their  children :  Robert 
H.  and  Gertrude  Langford.  2.  Guy  R., 
born  May  3,  1887 ;  educated  in  Pittston 
public  schools,  Wyoming  Seminary  and 
the  University  of  Michigan  ;  president  of 
the  Mountain  Spring  Ice  Company,  of 
Pittston ;  married  Lois  Cutler.  3.  Max- 
ville  C,  born  July  24,  1889;  prepared  for 
college  at  Lawrenceville  school,  gradu- 
ated from  Yale  University,  class  of  191 1 ; 
married  Louise  Barring,  and  has  a  son. 
Richard  Morris  (2)  Hughes. 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted 
by  the  organizations,  business  and  fra- 
ternal, with  which  Mr.  Hughes  was  con- 
nected. The  Miners'  Savings  Bank;  St. 
John's  Lodge,  Free  and  Accepted  Ma- 
sons ;  Wyoming  Valley  Commandery, 
Knights  Templar;  and  Pennsylvania  Cen- 
tral Brewing  Company.  The  Miners' 
Savings  Bank  resolution: 

Once  more  the  board  is  called  upon  to  note 
the  passing  away  of  one  of  its  number.  If  told 
at  our  last  meeting  that  one  of  those  that  joined 
in  discussing  the  business  of  the  movement  would 
meet  with  us  no  more  who  could  have  selected 


one  of  our  younger  members,  one  in  manhood's 
prime,  full  of  vigor  and  life  that  seemed  safely 
to  promise  decades  of  useful  work  and  serv- 
ice? When  on  Monday  morning  tidings  came 
to  us  that  Richard  M.  Hughes  had  passed  away 
during  the  night  just  gone,  it  brought  a  sense  of 
surprise  and  shock  coupled  with  unfeigned  regret 
that  we  feel  to-day  as  we  note  his  absence  from 
among  us.  '"Our  local  journals  have  told  the 
story  of  Mr.  Hughes'  useful  life  with  its  varied 
duties  and  wide  business  connection.  It  was  this 
business  prominence  and  acquaintance  with  men 
that  led  to  his  selection  to  assist  in  the  councils 
of  this  bank,  he  became  a  trustee  at  the  election 
of  January,  1896,  and  has  since  been  a  faithful 
attendant,  not  only  at  the  weekly  meetings  of 
the  board,  but  had  held  himself  ready  for  special 
duties  when  such  arose,  and  his  knowledge  of 
property  values  and  of  the  business  capacity  of 
men  has  often  proved  invaluable.  He  has  in 
every  way  proved  himself  a  faithful  friend  of 
the  bank,  yet,  at  the  same  time,  one  who  regarded 
the  safety  of  depositors  as  the  first  principle  of 
correct  bankng.  /Personally,  as  men,  we  know 
of  the  sorrow  that  must  be  felt  in  the  charming 
home  that  his  business  success  enabled  him  to 
provide  for  those  dearest  to  him.  We  extend  to 
his  family  our  heartfelt  sympathies,  Board  of 
Trustees  and  Officers,  Miners'  Savings  Bank  of 
Pittston,  Pennsylvania,  A.  A.  Bryden,  president; 
J.  C.  Reap,  vice-president;  W.  L.  Foster,  cash- 
ier; November  twenty-second,  nineteen  hundred 
and  eleven. 

To  the  worshipful  master,  officers  and 
members  of  St.  John's  Lodge,  No.  233, 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  Pittston, 
Pennsylvania : 

Brethren :  Your  committee  appointed  to  give 
expression  to  the  feelings  of  the  members  of  this 
lodge  in  regard  to  the  death  of  our  late  brother, 
Richard  M.  Hughes,  who  died  at  his  home  in 
West  Pittston,  November  20,  1911,  submit  the 
following: 

With  recommendation  that  it  be  spread  upon 
the  minutes  of  the  lodge,  and  that  an  engrossed 
copy  of  the  same  be  presented  to  the  widow, 
daughter  and  sons  of  the  deceased.  f 

IN   MEMORIAM. 

Whereas,  The  Great  Architect  of  the  Universe 

has  again  visited  our  lodge  and  summoned  our 

worthy  brother,  Richard  M.  Hughes,  from  labor 

to  repose;    therefore,  be  it 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Resolved,  That  we  bow  in  humble  submission 
to  this  sudden  and  mysterious  dispensation  of  an 
all  wise  Providence.  'That  through  the  demise  of 
our  late  brother,  the  fraternity  has  lost  a  faith- 
ful member,  a  wise  counsellor,  a  courteous  gen- 
tleman, a  sympathetic  friend,  and  an  affectionate 
brother.     That   we   revere   the   memory   of   our 
late   brother   and   emulate   our   sympathy   to   the 
bereaved  family  and  commend  them  for  consola- 
tion to  Him  who  is  the  friend  of  the  widow  and 
fatherless.     May  the    sudden   and   untimely    de- 
parture of  our  late  brother  and  friend  cause  us  to 
take  to  heart  the  lesson  that  we  be  prepared  for 
our  summons  to   enter  that   unexplored   country 
from  whose  bourne  no  traveler  ever  returns. 
Louis  P.  Bierly, 
James  Ryan, 
Adam  A.  Bryden, 
Committee. 
December  twenty-seven,  nineteen  hundred  and 
eleven. 

Resolutions  adopted  by  Wyoming  Val- 
ley Commandery,  No.  57,  Knights  Temp- 
lar: 

Again  we  are  admonished  that  our  sojourn 
here  is  but  of  short  duration,  and  that  sooner 
or  later  the  Messenger  of  Death  will  receive  the 
mandate  to  strike  us  from  the  roll  of  the  living 
and  we  will  be  called  to  lay  down  our  armour 
and  learn  the  realities  of  the  unseen  beyond  the 
vail.  The  lessons  of  Masonry  made  a  deep  im- 
pression on  the  mind  of  our  frater,  and  the 
Order  of  Knighthood,  with  its  impressive  lessons, 
had  a  lasting  influence  on  his  life,  being  naturally 
of  a  friendly  disposition,  his  every  day  conduct 
served  to  exemplify  its  teachings  among  his  fel- 
lowmen. 

In  the   death  of   Sir  Richard   M.   Hughes  the 
order  has  lost  a  member  that  was  a  credit  to  the 
community  and  an  honor  to  the  Fraternity^  As 
members  of  the  order  we  extend  to  his  bereaved 
family   our   fraternal   sympathy   in   the   loss   they 
have  sustained,  and  can  only  commend  them  to 
Him  in  whom  our  brother  put  his  trust,  relying 
upon  the  mercy  of  a  crucified  and  risen  Saviour. 
James  Ryan, 
James  C.  Kipp, 
William  A.  Hay, 
Committee. 

Resolutions  adopted  by  Pennsylvania 
Central   Brewing  Company. 

The   announcement   was  made   of  the 


death  of  Richard  M.  Hughes,  and  on 
motion  it  was  resolved  that  the  secretary 
prepare  a  resolution  of  condolence  on  the 
death  of  Richard  M.  Hughes,  the  first 
president  of  this  company,  and  later  a 
vice-president,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  a  director  of  this  company,  and 
that  the  same  be  entered  in  the  minutes 
of  this  meeting  and  an  engrossed  copy  be 
sent  to  the  family  of  the  deceased : 

Whereas,  As  we  have  heard  of  the  death  of 
our  esteemed  associate,  Richard  M.  Hughes,  the 
first  president  of  the  company,  and  later  a  vice- 
president,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  a  direc- 
tor of  this  company,  whose  death  occurred  at 
Pittston,  November  20,  ion  ;    and, 

Whereas,  The  relations  existing  between  the 
deceased  and  the  members  of  our  Board  of  Di- 
rectors and  the  officers  of  this  company,  render 
it  proper  that  we  should  give  expression  of  the 
sorrow  which  we  feel  in  our  parting  from  him ; 
therefore,  be  if 

Resolved,.  That  in  the  death  of  Richard  M. 
Hughes  the  Pennsylvania  Central  Brewing  Com- 
pany has  lost  an  esteemed  and  valued  friend  and 
that  we  tender  our  most  heartfelt  sympathy  to 
his  bereaved  widow  and  family,  and  that  in  token 
of  our  respect  this  resolution  shall  be  spread  at 
large  upon  our  minutes  and  an  engrossed  copy^- 
thereof  presented  to  his  family. 

Chas.  Robinson,  President, 
W.  G.  Harding,  Secretary, 
Directors. 

Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  Friday,  December  8, 
1911. 


STEWART,  Walter  Scott,  M.  D., 

Physician. 

Walter  Scott  Stewart,  M.  D.,  one  of  the 
most  successful  and  best  known  physi- 
cians of  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania, 
comes  of  that  strong  and  capable  stock 
which  has  produced  not  a  few  of  our  most 
prominent  men  and  which  is  the  basis  of 
a  type  of  citizenship  second  to  none 
to  be  found  in  this  country.  His 
paternal  grandfather  was  Robert  Stew- 
art, a  native  of  Scotland,  and  his 
grandmother,  before  marriage,  was  Mar- 


108 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


garet  Miller,  a  native  of  Londonderry, 
Ireland,  so  that  his  ancestry  is  of  the 
well-known  Scotch-Irish  type  which  has 
proved  itself  so  efficient  in  the  practical 
affairs  of  life,  both  at  home  and  abroad  in 
the  New  World. 

This  Robert  Stewart  and  his  wife,  the 
grandfather  of  the  Dr.  Stewart  of  this 
sketch,  came  to  the  United  States  in  the 
early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  and 
settled  in  Huntingdon  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania. Here  their  son,  Dr.  Miller  Stew- 
art, was  born,  in  the  year  1811,  and  here 
he  passed  his  childhood  and  early  youth. 
After  completing  the  preliminary  portion 
of  his  education,  he  attended  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  from  which  he  graduated 
with  the  class  of  1845  ar*d  at  once  began 
the  practice  in  his  native  Huntingdon 
county.  Later  on,  however,  he  went  to 
Fairmount,  West  Virginia,  where  he  set- 
tled and  continued  in  practice  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  Eventually,  however,  he 
came  to  Snowshoe,  Center  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  there  continued  in  practice 
until  the  time  of  his  death  in  the  year 
1899.  His  practice,  however,  soon  became 
merely  nominal,  as  he  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  wholesale  and  retail  manu- 
facture of  lumber  and  with  a  younger 
brother  formed  a  partnership  to  carry  on 
this  business.  The  two  men  built  the 
first  steam  saw  mill  in  that  section  of  the 
State,  and  it  was  they  who  opened  up 
much  of  the  virgin  timber  land  there- 
abouts. Dr.  Miller  Stewart  married  Patsy 
Elliott  Shaw,  a  daughter  of  William  and 
Patsy  Shaw,  lifelong  residents  of  Mary- 
land, where  Mrs.  Stewart  was  born.  Of 
this  union  seven  children,  two  of  whom 
were  daughters  and  five  sons,  were  born. 

Dr.  Walter  Scott  Stewart  was  born  No- 
vember 16,  1856,  at  Snowshoe,  Center 
county,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  sent  to 
gain  the  rudimentary  portion  of  his  edu- 
cation to  the  local   public  schools.     He 


afterwards  attended  the  Millersville  State 
Normal  School  at  Millersville,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  after  graduating  from  this  in- 
stitution, turned  his  attention  for  some 
time  to  the  subject  of  education,  and  act- 
ually followed  that  profession  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  his  native  region.  He  had 
in  the  meantime,  however,  gradually 
turned  his  attention  more  and  more  to 
the  science  of  medicine  and  eventually 
decided  to  make  this  his  profession  in 
life.  Accordingly  he  entered  the  medical 
school  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  after  establishing  an  excellent  record 
for  good  scholarship  was  graduated  there- 
from with  the  class  of  1883.  Immediately 
thereafter  he  came  to  Wilkes-Barre,  and 
there  engaged  actively  in  the  general 
practice  of  his  profession.  In  1886,  how- 
ever, he  interrupted  his  career  temporar- 
ily in  order  to  take  a  post-graduate  course 
at  Johns  Hopkins  University  at  Balti- 
more, Maryland.  With  the  exception  of 
this  comparatively  brief  interruption,  how- 
ever, Dr.  Stewart  has  continued  actively 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine  and 
surgery  during  the  thirty-four  years  that 
have  elapsed  since  his  coming  to  Wilkes- 
Barre,  and  is  now  recognized  as  one  of 
the  leaders  of  his  profession  in  that  part 
of  Pennsylvania.  In  1898,  at  the  time  of 
the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish-American 
War,  Dr.  Stewart  volunteered  his  services 
to  his  country  and  was  commissioned  sur- 
geon of  the  Ninth  Regiment  of  Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteer  Infantry  with  the  rank  of 
major.  In  this  capacity  he  began  his  mil- 
itary service,  but  was  shortly  afterwards 
detailed  to  the  Third  Division,  First  Army 
Corps  Hospital  at  Chickamauga,  and  was 
eventually  transferred  to  the  military  hos- 
pital at  Lexington,  Kentucky.  He  was 
mustered  out  of  active  service,  October 
29,  1898,  but  still  retains  his  commission 
in  the  National  Guard.  Dr.  Stewart  has 
been  very  prominent  in  the  medical  life 


109 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


of  Wilkes-Barre,  and  is  at  the  present 
time  surgeon  to  the  Wilkes-Barre  City 
Hospital.  He  has  also  taken  no  small 
part  in  advancing  the  general  interests  of 
the  profession,  and  is  an  active  member 
of  the  Luzerne  County,  Lehigh  Valley 
and  Pennsylvania  State  Medical  societies, 
and  of  the  American  Medical  Association 
and  the  Association  of  Military  Surgeons. 
He  is  also  a  fellow  of  the  American  Col- 
lege of  Surgeons.  He  has  held  a  number 
of  offices  in  those  various  organizations, 
including  that  of  president  of  the  Lu- 
zerne County  Medical  Society.  Dr.  Stew- 
art is  also  prominent  in  club  circles,  and 
is  a  member  and  the  president  of  the 
Westmoreland  Club,  of  the  Wyoming 
Valley  Country  Club  of  Wilkes-Barre, 
and  a  member  of  the  Army  and  Navy 
Club  of  New  York  City. 

There  is  something  intrinsically  admir- 
able in  the  profession  of  medicine  that 
illumines  by  reflected  light  all  those  who 
practice  it.  Something,  that  is,  concerned 
with  its  prime  object,  the  alleviation  of 
human  suffering,  something  about  the 
self-sacrifice  that  it  must  necessarily  in- 
volve that  makes  us  regard,  and  rightly 
so,  all  those  who  choose  to  follow  its  dif- 
ficult course  and  devote  themselves  to 
its  great  aims,  with  a  certain  amount  of 
respect  and  reverence.  It  is  true  that 
to-day  there  has  been  a  certain  lowering 
on  the  average  of  the  standards  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  profession,  and  that  there  are 
many  within  its  ranks  at  the  present  time 
who  have  proposed  to  themselves  selfish 
or  unworthy  objects  instead  of  those  iden- 
tified with  the  profession  itself,  whose 
eyes  are  centered  on  the  rewards  rather 
than  the  services,  yet  there  are  others 
also  who  have  preserved  the  purest  and 
best  ideals  of  the  calling  and  whose  self- 
sacrifice  is  as  disinterested  as  that  of  any 
who  have  preceded  them.  To  such  men 
we  turn  to  seek  the  hope  of  the  great  pro- 


fession in  the  future,  to  the  men  who, 
forgetful  of  personal  considerations,  lose 
themselves,  either  in  the  interest  of  the 
great  questions  with  which  they  have 
concerned  themselves  or  in  the  joy  of 
rendering  a  deep  service  to  their  fellow- 
men.  A  man  of  this  type  is  Dr. 
Stewart,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania, 
whose  work  in  that  city  in  the  interests 
of  its  health  has  done  the  public  an  in- 
valuable service. 


DEVLIN,  Thomas, 

Manufacturer. 

Thomas  Devlin  was  born  in  Ireland, 
March  30,  1838,  son  of  William  and  Mary 
(Sherry)  Devlin,  who  emigrated  to  the 
United  States  in  April,  1854,  settling  in 
Philadelphia,  making  it  their  permanent 
home.  His  education  in  Ireland  was  lim- 
ited to  the  opportunities  afforded  by  the 
common  schools  of  that  country,  but 
with  the  natural  love  of  education  found 
in  so  many  of  Erin's  sons,  he  was  not 
content  with  that  meagre  knowledge,  but 
after  working  hard  all  day  availed  him- 
self of  the  advantages  of  a  business  col- 
lege at  night,  studing  far  into  "the  wee 
sma'  hours." 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  began  his 
business  career  in  the  employ  of  what  is 
now  known  as  the  Philadelphia  Hard- 
ware and  Malleable  Iron  Works,  of  which 
he  is  to-day  president.  At  that  time  it 
was  known  as  Thomas  R.  Wood  &  Com- 
pany. Mr.  Devlin's  initial  start  brought 
him  the  large  salary  of  one  dollar  and  a 
half  per  week.  In  January,  1855,  the 
works  were  purchased  by  E.  Hall  Ogden, 
and  in  1866  he  admitted  three  of  his 
employees,  one  being  Thomas  Devlin,  as 
members  of  the  firm,  sharing  in  percent- 
age of  the  profits  in  lieu  of  a  salary.  This 
must  have  proved  a  satisfactory  arrange- 
ment to  the  three  employees,  as  in  1871 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


they  bought  out  the  business  and  it  be- 
came known  as  Carr,  Crawley  &  Dev- 
lin Company. 

In  1880  Mr.  Devlin  withdrew  from  that 
company  and  in  partnership  with  Louis 
J.  McGrath  founded  the  business  at 
Third  and  Lehigh  avenues,  Philadelphia, 
under  the  title  of  Thomas  Devlin  &  Com- 
pany. The  business  prospered  by  leaps 
and  bounds,  and  almost  every  available 
inch  of  space  has  since  been  acquired  to 
meet  the  demands  of  the  rapidly  growing 
business.  In  1902  the  firm  was  incor- 
porated under  the  laws  of  New  Jersey 
under  the  title  of  the  Thomas  Devlin 
Manufacturing  Company,  with  offices 
and  works  at  Third  and  Lehigh  avenues, 
Philadelphia,  and  the  more  extensive 
works  in  Burlington,  'New  Jersey,  to 
which  additions  continue  to  be  made  for 
the  manufacture  of  steam-fitters'  and 
plumbers'  supplies  as  well  as  the  many 
side  lines  manufactured  by  the  company. 
Mr.  Devlin  was  elected  as  president,  and 
has  continued  as  its  directing  and  execu- 
tive head  from  the  beginning.  His  rise 
has  been  steady  and  is  due  to  his  deter- 
mination to  acquire  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  every  detail  of  the  business  from 
the  very  beginning,  and  he  is  now  con- 
sidered an  authority  on  all  questions  con- 
nected with  the  manufacture  of  malle- 
able iron  products.  The  Philadelphia 
office  and  factory  is  of  modern  construc- 
tion and,  with  the  up-to-date  works  in 
Burlington,  New  Jersey,  employ  about  a 
thousand  men,  with  a  capital  stock  of  one 
million  dollars.  System  is  the  hall  mark 
of  every  department,  and  the  loss  of 
time,  labor  and  material  is  at  a  minimum. 

In  1892,  Thomas  Devlin  &  Company 
purchased  the  Ogden  business,  later  the 
Carr  &  Crawley  works,  from  which  Mr. 
Devlin  had  withdrawn  in  1880,  and  which 
is  now  principally  owned  by  Thomas 
Devlin,    and    Louis  J.    McGrath,    a    dis- 


tinct and  separate  chartered  company, 
known  as  the  Philadelphia  Hardware 
and  Malleable  Iron  Works,  with  Thomas 
Devlin  as  its  president.  The  history  of 
the  Philadelphia  Hardware  and  Malle- 
able Iron  Works,  which  began  business 
at  its  present  location  in  1852,  constitutes 
an  interesting  chapter  in  the  commercial 
life  and  development  of  Philadelphia. 

Throughout  Mr.  Devlin's  business 
career,  capable  management,  unfalter- 
ing enterprise  and  a  spirit  of  justice  have 
been  well-balanced  factors.  To  his  asso- 
ciates he  has  shown  a  genial,  kindly, 
humorous  side  of  his  character  which 
have  made  their  business  relations  most 
enjoyable,  and  never  has  he  fallen  into 
the  serious  error  of  regarding  his  em- 
ployees merely  as  parts  of  a  great  ma- 
chine, but,  on  the  contrary,  has  recog- 
nized their  individuality,  making  it  a 
rule  that  faithful  and  efficient  service 
shall  be  promptly  rewarded  with  promo- 
tion as  opportunity  offers.  Shortly  after 
purchasing  the  old  plant,  the  company 
originated  a  system  by  which  employees 
were  given  the  earnings  of  a  thousand 
dollars  worth  of  stock  for  a  term  of  five 
years  on  the  condition  that  the  employees 
give  to  the  company  continued  and  faith- 
ful service  during  that  period  and  that 
the  employees  contribute  the  sum  of  two 
dollars  per  week  to  be  retained  by  the 
company  toward  the  purchase  of  the  one 
thousand  dollars  worth  of  stock  of  which 
they  received  the  earning  capacity  as 
stated  above.  This  plan  was  of  Thomas 
Devlin's  original  conception,  and  it  has 
resulted  in  the  employees  putting  forth 
their  best  efforts  stimulated  by  the  desire 
to  own  a  thousand  dollars  worth  of  stock, 
and  in  many  instances  they  have  not  been 
content  with  that  amount,  but  spurred 
on  by  enjoying  the  dividend  before  they 
had  completed  the  purchase,  they  have 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


added  to  the  first  thousand  dollars  worth 
given  by  the  firm. 

The  thorough  business  qualifications 
of  Mr.  Devlin  have  always  been  in  good 
demand  on  boards  of  directors  of  differ- 
ent organizations,  and  his  public  spirit 
has  led  him  to  accept  many  such  trusts. 
He  is  president  of  Thomas  Devlin  Manu- 
facturing Company,  Philadelphia  Hard- 
ware &  Malleable  Iron  Works,  National 
Specialty  Alanufacturing  Company,  and 
of  Philadelphia  Foundrymen's  Associa- 
tion ;  director  of  the  Continental-Equit- 
able Title  &  Trust  Company,  Peoples' 
National  Fire  Insurance  Company,  Phil- 
adelphia Chamber  of  Commerce,  Bank  of 
Commerce,  and  of  Manufacturers'  Club ; 
member  of  National  Association  of 
Foundrymen,  The  American  Foundry- 
men's  Association,  Hardware  Merchants' 
&  Manufacturers'  Association,  The  Phil- 
adelphia Schutzen-Verein,  The  Lang- 
horne  Board  of  Trade,  American  Society 
for  Extension  of  University  Teaching, 
American  Academy  of  Political  and  So- 
cial Science,  University  of  Archeology, 
National  Civic  Federation,  Catholic  His- 
torical Society,  American  Irish  Histori- 
cal Society,  Mercantile  Beneficial  Asso- 
ciation, Civil  Service  Reform  Associa- 
tion, United  Irish  League,  Friendly  Sons 
of  St.  Patrick,  Atlantic  Inland  Water- 
ways Association,  City  Parks  Association 
of  Philadelphia,  National  Geographical 
Society,  National  Rivers  &  Harbors  Con- 
gress, National  Board  of  Trade,  Auto- 
mobile Club  of  Philadelphia,  Royal  So- 
ciety of  Arts,  London,  and  of  Chamber 
of  Commerce  of  the  United  States ;  and 
manager  of  the  Beneficial  Savings  Fund 
Society.  He  was  formerly  a  member  of 
the  Philadelphia  Zoological  Association, 
the  Pennsylvania  Society  in  New  York, 
the  Langhorne  Golf  Club,  the  American 
Iron  and   Steel   Institute,  the   Historical 


Society  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Frank- 
lin Institute. 

While  Thomas  Devlin  has  always 
given  his  business  th|  most  minute  and 
untiring  personal  attention,  he  has  found 
time  to  devote  thought  and  support  to  the 
commercial  and  civic  interests  of  Phila- 
delphia, proving  him  a  forceful  element 
in  his  civic  relations  and  a  staunch  friend. 
He  is  an  ardent  advocate  and  champion 
of  education  and  worthy  charities.  Dur- 
ing the  fleeting  years  he  has  found  time 
to  make  five  trips  through  Europe,  as 
his  children  completed  their  education, 
and  three  trips  through  the  United 
States.      Politically   he   is    a    Republican. 

On  January  2,  1866,  in  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Devlin  married  Helen 
Amelia  Sanford,  daughter  of  Abel  B. 
and  Caroline  A.  (Tobey)  Sanford,  na- 
tives of  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts. 
By  this  marriage  Mr.  Devlin  gained  the 
companionship  of  a  charming  and  con- 
genial woman,  and  one  well  fitted  in  all 
ways  to  be  his  helpmate  and  adviser.  On 
November  16,  191 1,  Mr.  Devlin  suffered 
the  irreparable  loss  of  his  wife.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Devlin  were  the  parents  of  the  fol- 
lowing children :  William  John,  Dr. 
Thomas  F.,  Walter  E.,  Frederick  M., 
Harry,  Dr.  Albert  J.,  Mrs.  Caroline  M. 
Begley,  Dr.  Raymond  A.,  lieutenant  at 
Camp  Mead;  and  Clarence  J.  The  home 
life  of  Mr.  Devlin  has  been  one  of  rare 
felicity  and  beauty.  His  wife  was  a 
woman  whose  strong  mental  endow- 
ments, loveliness  of  personality  and 
sweetness  of  disposition  fitted  her  to  be 
at  once  his  intellectual  comrade  and  the 
presiding  genius  of  his  fireside. 

In  1901  Mr.  Devlin  purchased  a  farm 
of  about  three  hundred  and  forty  acres, 
located  in  Middletown  township,  Bucks 
county,  Pennsylvania,  which  he  named 
"Cedarlin  Farms,"  and  here  he  spends 
much  of  his  time.     He  has  stocked  the 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


estate  with  blooded  cattle  and  has  made 
of  it  one  of  the  show  places  of  the  State. 
Apropos  of  Mr.  Devlin  and  his  farm,  the 
Philadelphia  "Inquirer"  had  this  to  say 
of  him,  in  its  issue  of  April  g,  1918: 

When  the  "Inquirer's"  birthday  bulletin  editor 
last  week  printed  the  picture  of  Thomas  Devlin 
and  felicitated  him  upon  his  natal  day  anniver- 
sary, as  is  his  rule,  he  made  no  mention  as  to  the 
number  of  years  during  which  Mr.  Devlin  has 
spread  the  sunshine  of  his  presence  among  his 
friends.  "Farmer"  Devlin,  as  he  is  affectionately 
called  by  those  who  have  the  good  fortune  to 
know  him  in  his  activities  on  his  model  farm  in 
Bucks  county,  near  Langhorne,  has  just  cele- 
brated his  eightieth  birthday.  *  *  *  "Farmer" 
Devlin,  in  his  side  issue  in  the  agricultural  way, 
says  he  has  quite  as  much  difficulty  with  the  labor 
problem  during  war  times  as  he  has  with  his 
big  industrial  plants  in  Philadelphia  and  Burling- 
ton, New  Jersey.  He  is  filled  up  with  orders  in 
his  foundry  and  hardware  shops  and  is  one  of  the 
busiest  men  of  his  years  in  the  State.  Jovial 
"Farmer"  Devlin,  "Manufacturer"  Devlin,  "Good 
Fellow"  Devlin  in  disposition  is  never  happier 
than  when  addressing  a  coterie  of  friends  upon  a 
public-spirited  or  patriotic  theme,  and  as  a  post- 
prandial orator  he  has  a  field  peculiarly  his  own. 


DODSON,  Victor  Lee, 

Educator. 

The  Dodson  family  has  been  actively 
and  honorably  identified  with  the  history 
of  Eastern  Pennsylvania  since  Colonial 
times.  The  progenitor  of  the  Luzerne 
county  branch  of  the  family  was  Thomas 
Dodson,  who  about  1723.  with  his  wife 
Mary  (nee  Prigg)  and  two  young  sons, 
removed  from  Philadelphia  to  Chester 
county,  Pennsylvania.  There,  during  the 
ensuing  twenty  years,  ten  other  children 
were  born  to  Thomas  and  Mary  (Prigg) 
Dodson,  the  names  of  four  of  their  twelve 
children  being:  John,  born  April  10, 
1720;  Richard,  born  June  26,  1731 ; 
Thomas,  born  1732;  and  James,  born 
1734- 

John    Dodson,    above    mentioned,    re- 


moved with  his  wife  and  two  sons, 
Thomas  and  James,  from  Chester  county 
to  Northampton  county,  Pennsylvania, 
about  the  year  1765.  Twelve  years  later 
the  family,  or  at  least  the  male  members 
of  it,  had  settled  on  the  Susquehanna 
river  within  the  bounds  of  what  was  then 
the  township  of  Salem,  Plymouth  dis- 
trict, in  the  county  of  Westmoreland  of 
the  State  of  Connecticut.  This  county  of 
Westmoreland  comprehended  what  was 
more  commonly  known  as  the  Wyoming 
region  of  Pennsylvania,  the  right  and 
title  to  which  the  New  England  settlers 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Pennsylvania 
land-claimers  on  the  other,  bitterly  con- 
tested for  a  number  of  years. 

The  names  of  John,  Thomas,  Richard 
and  James  Dodson  appear  in  the  tax  lists 
of  Plymouth  district  for  the  years  1777 
and  1778. 

Following  the  battle  and  massacre 
of  Wyoming,  July  3,  1778,  the  whole 
Wyoming  region  was  deserted  by  the 
survivors  of  that  fateful  day,  the  Dod- 
sons,  in  common  with  the  other  inhabi- 
tants of  Salem,  fleeing  across  the  river 
and  mountains  to  their  old  homes  near 
the  Delaware  river,  Northampton  county. 
After  peaceful  times  had  come  again  to 
the  Wyoming  region,  and  there  seemed  to 
be  no  further  danger  of  Indian  incursions, 
John  Dodson,  his  son  Thomas,  and  other 
members  of  their  respective  families, 
returned  to  Wyoming  and  set  about  re- 
establishing themselves  on  the  lands 
which  they  had  formerly  occupied.  The 
names  of  John,  Thomas  and  James  Dod- 
son appear  in  the  list  of  Salem  township 
taxables  for  1796. 

About  1797  or  1798,  John  and  Thomas 
Dodson  removed  with  their  families  to 
the  adjoining  township  of  Huntington, 
Luzerne  county,  and  there  John  Dodson 
died  March  10,  1818,  aged  ninety-seven 
years  and  eleven  months.  His  remains 
>3 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


were  buried  in  the  "Goss"  graveyard,  at 
Harveyville,  Huntington  township. 

Thomas  Dodson  seems  to  have  been  a 
farmer,  a  millwright  and  a  miller.  In 
1798,  in  conjunction  with  Nathan  Beach, 
of  Salem,  he  built  the  second  grist-mill 
(known  as  Rogers')  in  Huntington  town- 
ship, on  Marsh  creek.  The  wife  of 
Thomas  Dodson,  to  whom  he  was  mar- 
ried in  1778,  was  Mehetable,  or  Mabel, 
Bixby,  born  in  1760,  died  in  1804,  and 
both  he  and  she  were  ardent  Methodists. 
"Their  hospitable  home  was,  during  his 
life,  the  place  for  general  worship,  the 
home  of  the  itinerant  ministers  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  and  the 
place  where  all  Christian  people  were 
warmly   welcomed." 

Thomas  Dodson  died  April  29,  1818, 
seven  weeks  subsequently  to  the  death  of 
his  father,  and  was  survived  by  five  sons 
and  five  daughters.  The  second  of  these 
children  was  Elias  Dodson  (1781-1859), 
who  became  an  extensive  landowner  in 
Huntington  township,  and  operated  saw 
and  grist  mills.  In  his  later  years  he 
became  a  Baptist  preacher,  and  largely 
through  his  efforts  the  first  Baptist  meet- 
ing-house in  his  township  was  built.  His 
wife  was  Mary  Long,  and  their  third 
child  was  Nathan  Long  Dodson  (1808- 
1882). 

The  latter  spent  his  life  of  seventy-four 
years  in  Huntington  township,  and  dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  that  period  was 
engaged  in  farming.  He  married,  June 
2,  1831,  Susan  Stevens  (1811-1882),  and 
they  became  the  parents  of  four  sons  and 
five  daughters. 

The  youngest  of  these  children  was 
William  Egbert  Dodson,  born  in  Hunt- 
ington township,  August  21,  1853.  He 
remained  at  the  home  of  his  parents  until 
some  time  after  his  marriage,  working  on 
his  fathers'  farm  in  the  summer  time  and, 
while  a   youth,  attending  school  in  the 


winter  months.  About  1889  he  removed 
to  Wilkes-Barre,  where,  during  the  ensu- 
ing fifteen  years,  he  was  engaged  in  busi- 
ness as  a  dyer  and  cleaner.  He  then  re- 
turned to  his  ancestral  acres  in  Hunting- 
ton township,  where  he  has  since  resided, 
engaged  in  farming. 

William  E.  Dodson  married,  December 
31,  1877,  Alice  Chapin,  and  they  became 
the  parents  of  four  children :  Victor  Lee, 
of  whom  further;  Bessie  Elizabeth,  Clar- 
ence Furman,  and  Blanche  Margaret,  who 
is  married  to  William  Aston,  of  Wilkes- 
Barre. 

Victor  Lee  Dodson  was  born  at  the 
Dodson  homestead  in  Huntington  town- 
ship, June  12,  1879.  As  a  boy  he  attended 
the  public  school  near  his  home,  and 
after  the  removal  of  his  parents  to 
Wilkes-Barre  attended  the  public  schools 
of  that  city.  However,  he  did  not  com- 
plete the  prescribed  course  of  study  lead- 
ing to  graduation,  but  instead,  like  many 
of  his  boy  companions,  anxious  to  en- 
gage in  remunerative  employment,  he 
left  school  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years 
and  obtained  a  clerical  position. 

At  this  work  he  continued,  with  a  fair 
degree  of  success,  until  he  began  to  real- 
ize that  he  needed  more  of  an  education 
than  he  possessed.  Thereupon  he  became 
a  student  at  the  Wilkes-Barre  Business 
College,  and  by  faithful  and  intelligent 
application  to  his  studies  was  able  to  be 
graduated  in  1907. 

He  immediately  received  an  appoint- 
ment as  stenographer  in  the  offices  of  the 
Lehigh  Valley  Railroad  Company,  which 
some  months  later  he  resigned  in  order 
to  accept  a  similar  position  with  the  Vul- 
can Iron  Works  of  Wilkes-Barre.  In  the 
autumn  of  1908  he  left  the  employ  of  this 
company  to  become  an  instructor,  in 
charge  of  a  department,  in  the  Wilkes- 
Barre  Business  College.  At  the  end  of 
a  year's  work  in  this  position,  in  Decern- 


J£84U<L4J 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


ber,  1909,  he  purchased  the  concern,  and 
since  then  has  been  its  sole  owner  and 
manager. 

The  Wilkes-Barre  Business  College 
had  existed  for  a  number  of  years  before 
Mr.  Dodson  became  connected  with  it, 
but  its  real  history  properly  dates  from 
1909,  when  the  Dodson  regime  went  into 
effect.  At  that  time  only  two  teachers 
were  employed,  while  the  students  in  all 
classes,  day  and  night,  numbered  less 
than  one  hundred.  Now,  the  year  1918, 
shows  an  enrollment  of  four  hundred  and 
fifty  students,  with  a  faculty  of  seven 
teachers.  The  courses  of  study  in  the 
institution  are  modern,  and  have  been 
arranged  with  the  best  interest  of  the 
students  in  view ;  while  the  recitation, 
lecture,  and  study-rooms  have  been 
greatly  enlarged  since  1909,  and  are  sup- 
plied with  up-to-date  aids  to  study  under 
healthful  conditions.  Unquestionably  the 
Wilkes-Barre  Business  College  will  com- 
pare favorably  with  the  best  of  similar 
institutions  anywhere.  The  great  suc- 
cess which  has  attended  the  progress  of 
this  institution  since  1909  is  due  abso- 
lutely to  the  hard,  painstaking  and  never- 
ending  efforts  of  Mr.  Dodson,  whose  opti- 
mistic views  and  sincere  enthusiasm  have 
imbued  all  his  projects  and  labors  for  the 
welfare  of  his  institution,  and  have  in- 
spired his  co-workers  to  put  forth  their 
best  efforts. 

Mr.  Dodson  is  very  well  known  in 
Wilken-Barre,  where  he  has  spent  nearly 
all  his  life,  and  he  is  held  in  high  regard 
by  his  friends  and  acquaintances  because 
of  his  sincerity,  his  earnestness  and  his 
fidelity  to  high  ideals.  He  is  a  member 
of  Lodge  No.  61,  Free  and  Accepted  Ma- 
sons; Shekinah  Chapter,  No.  182,  Royal 
Arch  Masons;  Dieu  LeVeut  Command- 
ery,  No.  45,  Knights  Templar,  and  Irem 
Temple,  Ancient  Arabic  Order  Nobles  of 
the    Mystic    Shrine.      He    takes    a    deep 


interest  in  the  Rotary  Club  movement, 
being  a  charter  member  and  secretary  of 
the  Wilkes-Barre  branch,  and  during  the 
present  World  War  he  is  actively  and 
effectively  engaged  in  Red  Cross  and  Se- 
curity League  matters. 

Mr.  Dodson  married,  June  8,  1904, 
Martha  Watt,  younger  daughter  of  Ed- 
ward S.  and  Mary  Ellen  (Welles)  Mor- 
gan of  Wilkes-Barre.  Mrs.  Dodson's 
father  was  for  many  years  prior  to  his 
death  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Charles 
Morgans'  Sons,  engaged  in  the  hardware 
business  in  Wilkes-Barre,  and  both 
her  paternal  and  maternal  grandfathers, 
Charles  Morgan  and  William  S.  Welles, 
were  highly  respected  citizens  and  suc- 
cessful business  men  in  Wilkes-Barre  in 
their  day  and  generation. 


KRESS,  Frederick  Joseph, 
Business  Man. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find,  within  the 
limits  of  Greater  Pittsburgh,  a  more 
typical  representative  of  the  present  gen- 
eration of  the  city's  business  men  than 
Frederick  Joseph  Kress,  president  and 
director  of  the  F.  J.  Kress  Box  Company, 
and  identified  in  an  official  capacity  with 
several  other  well-known  commercial  and 
financial  organizations.  Mr.  Kress  takes 
a  keen  and  helpful  interest  in  all  that 
makes  for  progress  and  reform. 

The  family  of  Kress  is  an  ancient  and 
honorable  one,  having  its  origin  in  Ba- 
varia, Germany,  and  its  members  are  en- 
titled to  display  the  following  escutcheon : 

Arms — Gules,  three  fish  argent  posted  palewise 
in  fess,  in  chief  four  lozenges  in  fess  or. 
Crest — A  lion  rampant  issuant  or. 

Joseph  Adam  Kress,  father  of  Fred- 
erick Joseph  Kress,  was  born  in  Wurtem- 
berg,  Bavaria,  his  father  holding  the  office 
of  forester  to  the  king  of  Bavaria.     Mr. 


"5 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Kress  married  Eleanor  Heinz,  born  in 
Baireuth,  Bavaria,  daughter  of  a  promi- 
nent woolen  manufacturer  who  owned 
several  woolen  mills  in  that  city.  In 
childhood  and  early  youth  Miss  Heinz 
was  a  playmate  and  friend  of  Richard 
Wagner,  the  eminent  musical  composer. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-six  Mr.  Kress,  who 
was  an  exceptionally  skilled  cabinet- 
maker, emigrated  to  the  United  States. 

Frederick  Joseph  Kress,  son  of  Joseph 
Adam  and  Eleanor  (Heinz)  Kress,  was 
born  January  iS,  1861,  in  the  Penn  ave- 
nue district,  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania, 
and  received  his  education  in  public 
schools  of  his  native  city.  After  leaving 
school  Mr.  Kress  began  to  work  in  a  box 
factory,  and  his  aptitude  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  at  the  early  age  of 
nineteen  he  became  foreman  of  the  shop. 
At  twenty-two  he  went  into  business  for 
himself  under  his  own  name.  The  incep- 
tion of  the  concern,  remarkable  though  it 
was,  was  perhaps  less  so  than  its  steady 
growth  and  successful  maintenance.  In 
1903  the  business  was  incorporated  under 
the  laws  of  Pennsylvania  as  the  F.  J. 
Kress  Box  Company.  Later  Mr.  Kress 
formed  another  corporation,  the  F.  J. 
Kress  Box  Company,  incorporated  under 
the  laws  of  Virginia,  and  thereby  hangs 
a  tale.  In  the  ardor  of  enterprise  he  car- 
ried his  business  into  that  State,  erecting 
a  box  factory  on  what  was  then  prac- 
tically an  uninhabited  spot.  Around  the 
factory  sprang  up  a  thriving  village 
which,  most  appropriately,  received  the 
name  of  Kress  and  which  is  now  to  be 
found  in  the  postal  guide  and  on  the  map. 
Like  a  loyal  Pittsburgher,  Mr.  Kress 
divides  the  honors  with  his  native  city,  de- 
claring that  it  was  there  he  learned  the  art 
of  founding  towns.  Therefore,  Mr.  Kress 
is  to-day  president  and  director  of  the  F. 
J.  Kress  Box  Company,  of  Kress,  Vir- 
ginia, as  well  as  of  the  organization  of 


the  same  name  in  Pittsburgh.  He  is  also 
president  and  director  of  the  the  Frank- 
lin Savings  and  Trust  Company,  and 
honorary  president  of  the  Pittsburgh 
Commercial  Club.  Assuredly,  none  can 
deny  him  the  title  of  a  truly  progressive 
business  man. 

But  there  is  anothe/  field  in  which  Mr. 
Kress  has  achieved*  fame  scarcely  less 
widespread  and  no  less  honorable  than 
that  which  has  rewarded  his  efforts  in  the 
a-r-ena  of  business.  Especially  keen  ivThis 
interest  in  the  future  generations  of  his 
native  community,  in  the  citizens  who 
are  to  make  Pittsburgh  great  in  the  years 
to  comej  1,  Nor  is  his  interest  limited  to 
these.  His  feeling  is  national.  The 
future  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
engages  his  attention  and  occupies  his 
thoughts,  and  his  activities  in  this  direc- 
tion arc  attested  by  the  fact  that  he  is 
commander-in-chief  of  the  United  Coys' 
Brigades  of  America.  He  is. a  member 
of  the  ways  and  means  committee  of  the  gJ 
Allegheny  County  Four-Minute  Men.  and 
■'h's^bne  of  the  most  inspiring  of  the  four- 
minute  speakers.  The  simple  statement 
that  he  'is  one  of  the  Bankers'  Liberty 
Loan  speakers  is  conclusive  proof  that  he 
is  a  true  patriot  and"  a  true  orator. 

The  organizations  in  which  Mr.  Kress 
is  enrolled  are,  as  might  be  expected, 
extremely  numerous.  He  holds  perpetual 
membership  in  the  Pittsburgh  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  and  is  a  life  member  of  the  v 
Pittsburgh  Exposition  Society  and  the 
Americus  Club.  In  191 1  and  1912  he  was 
president  of  the  National  Wood  Box 
Manufacturing  Association,  and  in  No- 
vember. 1916,  was  elected  treasurer  of 
the  National  Association  of  Corrugated 
Fibre  Box  Manufacturers.  He  belongs 
to  the  official  board  of  the  West  Pennsyl- 
vania Hospital,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Western  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society, 
being  also  enrolled  in  the  Pittsburgh 
r6 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Athletic  Association.  Mr.  Kress  affiliates 
with  Crescent  Lodge,  No.  576,  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons,  and  is  prominently 
associated  with  matters  Masonic.  He  is 
a  member  and  elder  of  the  Fourth  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  at  one  time  served 
for  seven  years  as  superintendent  of  the 
Sunday  school.. 

Mr.  Kress  married,  April  17,  1884,  in 
Pittsburgh,  Mary,  daughter  ef  Cornelius 
and  Mary  (Ramsey)  Enscoe,  o'f.that  city, 
and  they  are  the  parents  of  'two  chil- 
dren:  1.  Elsie  Enscoe,  now  the  wife  of 
Thomas  Pringle,  an  architect  of  Pitts- 
burgh ;  they  have  two  children,  Mary  and 
Thomas.  2.  Paul  Cornelius,  attending 
Lafayette  College,  class  of  1921,  //Be- 
tween Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kress,  the  latter  a 
woman  of  unusual  intelligence  and  most 
amiable  disposition,  there  exists  the  most 
perfect  harmony  of  tastes,  sympathies  and 
aims.  Mrs.  Kress  is  not  only  connected 
with  all  the  societies  of  her  church  and 
active  in  its  charitable  work,  but  at  this 
national  crisis  she  is  the  true  comrade 
of  her  husband  in  patriotic  endeavor,  hav- 
ing been  constantly  identified  with  the 
labors  of  the  Red  Cross. 

In  all  respects  but  one  Mr.  Kress  looks 
the  man  his  records  shows  him  to  be,  the 
single  exception  being  the  discrepancy 
between  the  length  of  his  career  and  his 
apparent  age.  A  stranger,  on  meeting 
him,  would  substract  twenty  from  the 
total  number  of  years  of  accomplishment 
which  are  actually  his.  His  hair  is  dark, 
his  strong  features  are  clean  shaven,  and 
his  keen,  kindly  brown  eyes  are  those  of 
a  leader  who  wins  the  enthusiastic  loyalty 
of  his  followers.  He  is  a  man  who  draws 
men  to  him.  Never  was  the  work  of 
building  up  citizens  for  Pittsburgh  and 
for  the  Nation  more  needed  than  at  the 
present  time,  and  never,  we  venture  to 
say, -was  there  a  man  beter  fitted  to  "lend 
a  hand"  in  its  accomplishment  than  Fred- 
erick Joseph  Kress. 


PRICE,  JOHN  BERTSCH, 
Financier. 

John  Bertsch  Price,  president  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Hazleton,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  connected  in  various  ca- 
pacities with  many  of  the  most  important 
industrial  concerns  of  this  place,  has  for 
many  years  occupied  a  position  of  prom- 
inence in  the  community,  and  during  his 
long  and  successful  career  has  won  for 
himself  the  esteem  and  regard  of  his  fel- 
low citizens  generally.  He  is  a  son  of  Judge 
Samuel  B.  Price,  for  many  years  an  influ- 
ential citizen  of  Mauch  Chunk,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  of  Harriet  (Bertsch)  Price, 
his  wife.  Judge  Price  was  a  native  of 
Hunterdon  county,  New  Jersey,  but  came 
to  Pennsylvania  early  in  life  and  was 
associated  with  the  Upper  Lehigh  Coal 
Company  in  the  capacity  of  chief  clerk 
for  a  considerable  period.  He  resigned 
from  this  position  in  1887  and  devoted  his 
attention  entirely  to  the  responsible 
duties  devolving  upon  him  as  treasurer 
of  Carbon  county.  In  1889  he  was 
elected  judge,  a  post  which  he  filled  to 
his  own  credit  and  that  of  the  community 
in  which  his  court  was  situated.  He  mar- 
ried Harriet  Bertsch,  a  native  of  Mauch 
Chunk,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  lived 
thereafter.  They  were  the  parents  of  the 
following  children:  Harrie  Bertsch,  born 
September  25,  1857,  married,  October  27, 
1884,  Margaret  Smith,  of  Cornwells, 
Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania ;  Samuel 
Barber,  died  in  March,  1904;  Daniel 
Bertsch,  deceased ;  Samuel  Clark,  who 
resides  at  Hazleton;  John  Bertsch,  with 
whose  career  we  are  especially  concerned. 

Born  November  17,  1864,  at  Mauch 
Chunk,  Pennsylvania,  John  Bertsch  Price 
went  with  his  parents  to  Upper  Lehigh 
as  a  small  boy  and  there  spent  most  of 
his  childhood.  It  was  at  Upper  Lehigh 
also  that  he  attended  his  first  schools, 
and   continued    a   pupil   therein   until   he 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


was  sent  to  the  Swarthmore  Preparatory- 
College,  where  he  was  prepared  for  a  uni- 
versity course.  He  then  entered  Lehigh 
University  at  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania, 
and  there  studied  engineering,  graduating 
as  a  civil  engineer  in  the  year  1885.  His 
ambition  to  become  conversant  with  every 
branch  of  his  chosen  profession  as  speed- 
ily as  possible  induced  him,  during  most 
of  his  college  vacations,  to  spend  his  time 
in  the  mines  of  the  district,  studying  the 
application  of  his  theoretical  knowledge 
to  actual  conditions,  an  experience  which 
was  invaluable  to  him.  In  1886,  the  year 
after  his  graduation  from  Lehigh,  Mr. 
Price  went  abroad  and  spent  some  months 
in  Europe.  Returning  in  the  following 
year,  he  became  the  construction  engineer 
of  the  Denver  &  Rio  Grande  Railroad  and 
made  his  home  temporarily  in  Denver, 
Colorado.  Unfortunately  his  eyes  were 
delicate,  and  after  a  year  of  work  with 
the  railroad  he  was  obliged  to  retire  from 
active  business  for  a  time.  He  spent  the 
following  two  months  on  a  cattle  ranch 
in  the  West,  hoping  to  strengthen  his 
eyes  by  a  complete  rest,  and  the  follow- 
ing winter  underwent  treatment  for  them 
consistently.  In  the  spring  of  1888  he 
located  at  Hazleton,  Pennsylvania,  where 
he  had  received  the  position  of  teller  of 
the  First  National  Bank,  and  ever  since 
that  time  he  has  made  his  home  here  and 
continued  his  association  with  this  insti- 
tution. His  father,  Judge  Price,  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Hazleton,  and  the  young  man 
was  shortly  after  promoted  to  the  post  of 
assistant  cashier.  He  held  the  two  posi- 
tions until  the  spring  of  1896  and  was 
then  appointed  cashier.  In  this  capacity 
he  served  until  his  election  to  the  presi- 
dency in  March,  1901,  and  continues  to 
hold  the  latter  post  at  the  present  time. 
But  although  Mr.  Price  has  given  so 
greatly  of  his   time   and   energy   to   the 

11 


operation  of  this  highly  successful  bank 
and  is,  perhaps,  more  closely  identified 
with  it  than  with  any  other  business  con- 
cern, it  does  not  by  any  means  mark  the 
limits  of  his  active  interests.  He  is,  on 
the  contrary,  affiliated  with  many  other 
concerns  and  among  them  should  be  men- 
tioned the  Luzerne  Silk  Throwing  Com- 
pany, of  which  he  is  the  treasurer  and  a 
director,  while  he  is  materially  interested 
in  a  number  of  others.  Mr.  Price  is  also 
a  conspicuous  figure  in  social  and  club 
circles  here,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Sigma 
Phi  College  fraternity,  Tau-Beta  Pi,  Hon- 
oring College  Engineering  Society,  the 
University  Club  of  Philadelphia,  the 
Westmoreland  and  the  Wyoming  Coun- 
try clubs  of  Wilkes-Barre,  and  the  Hazle- 
ton and  Hazleton  Country  clubs  of  Haz- 
leton, and  is  a  director  of  the  last  named. 
In  his  religious  belief  Mr.  Price  is  an 
Episcopalian,  and  attends  St.  Peter's 
Church  of  that  denomination  at  Hazle- 
ton, of  which  he  is  vestryman  and  treas- 
urer. 

John  Bertsch  Price  was  united  in  mar- 
riage, October  1,  1891,  to  Mary  Silliman, 
of  Hazleton,  Pennsylvania,  a  daughter  of 
Morgan  and  Martha  (Levy)  Silliman,  old 
and  highly  respected  residents  of  this 
place.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Price  have  become 
the  parents  of  the  following  children:  1. 
John  Bertsch,  Jr.,  who  received  his  early 
education  at  St.  Luke's  School  for  Boys 
at  Philadelphia,  and  afterwards  attended 
Stanford  University,  California,  from 
which  he  graduated  with  the  class  of 
1915,  taking  the  degree  of  B.  A.;  he  is 
now  in  the  United  States  Naval  Auxiliary 
Service.  2.  James  Silliman,  born  April 
27,  1894.  3.  Robert  Morgan,  born  June 
16,  1S95,  educated  at  St.  Luke's  School 
for  Boys  at  Philadelphia  and  Stanford 
University,  California;  he  is  now  in  the 
United  States  Aviation  Service. 


3(9 


CVAr-VTA^v- 


[ATKD^AX^^^fi^^cy^^J 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


CHAMPION,  Harry  W., 

Man  of  Affairs. 

It  is  frequently  said  of  a  man  that  he 
is  a  representative  of  the  interests  with 
which  he  has  identified  himself,  but  in 
the  case  of  Harry  W.  Champion,  presi- 
dent and  director  of  the  Newton  Machine 
Tool  Works,  Incorporated,  the  statement 
has  a  special  significance  inasmuch  as 
Mr.  Champion  has  been,  throughout  his 
business  career,  connected  with  the  or- 
ganization of  which  he  has  been  for  a 
number  of  years  the  head  and  the  guid- 
ing and  controlling  spirit.  Mr.  Champion 
is  a  loyal  citizen  of  his  native  Philadel- 
phia, associated  with  her  most  essential 
interests  and  a  promoter  of  all  that  makes 
for  her  truest  advancement.  Harry  W. 
Champion  was  born  October  21,  1864,  in 
Philadelphia,  and  is  a  son  of  John  B.  and 
Nancy  (Coulter)  Champion,  and  a  grand- 
son of  John  Champion,  of  an  old  New 
Jersey  family.  John  B.  Champion  was  a 
native  of  Philadelphia,  and  died  in  that 
city,  where  he  was  for  a  time  engaged  in 
the  paper  business. 

The  education  of  Harry  W.  Champion 
was  received  at  the  Germantown  Acad- 
emy, and  after  completing  his  course  of 
study  he  spent  one  year  in  a  real  estate 
office,  going  then  to  an  engineer's  office 
in  order  to  learn  engineering.  In  1882 
he  entered  the  Charles  C.  Newton  Tool 
Works  and  was  given  a  position  in  the 
draughting  department  by  Mr.  Newton. 
Mr.  Champion  tells  us  that,  in  addition 
to  his  work  in  the  draughting  room,  he 
"ran  errands  and  made  himself  generally 
useful."  This,  however,  was  only  at  first. 
Soon  he  became  so  proficient  in  his  duties 
that  he  was  promoted  from  the  position 
of  draughtsman  to  that  of  head  draughts- 
man, becoming  then  salesmanager  and 
later,  successively,  secretary  and  direc- 
tor   and    general    manager.      Upon    the 


death  of  Mr.  Newton,  in  1916,  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  presidency  of  the  company. 
The  nationally  known  corporation  of 
which  Mr.  Champion  has  been  for  the 
last  two  years  the  efficient  leader  was 
founded  in  1880  by  the  late  Charles  C. 
Newton  in  a  two-story  building  on  Cal- 
lowhill  street,  with  a  force  of  five  or  six 
men.  In  this  modest  way  Mr.  Newton 
began  the  manufacture  of  small  milling 
machines  of  the  standard  column  and  uni- 
versal types,  and  so  successful  was  the 
venture  that  in  1882  the  firm  was  capable 
of  branching  out  in  the  manufacture  of 
the  Lincoln  type  milling  machine,  called 
by  Mr.  Newton  the  "new  pattern  milling 
machine."  It  represented  a  distinct  im- 
provement over  existing  milling  machines 
and  from  the  very  beginning  had  a  ready 
sale.  In  1885  the  firm  designed  and  built 
the  first  commercial  locomotive  rod  mill- 
ing machine,  which  was  introduced  with 
considerable  difficulty  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  milling  machine  had  not  yet 
begun  to  supersede  the  planer,  for  certain 
kinds  of  work,  to  any  great  extent.  It 
has,  however,  so  increased  in  favor  that 
to-day  the  sale  of  heavy  planer  type  mill- 
ing machines  forms  the  greater  portion 
of  the  company's  total  business.  In  1886, 
the  old  quarters  having  been  outgrown, 
the  company  moved  into  a  two-story 
building  at  Twenty-fourth  and  Wood 
streets,  and  in  1892  it  took  up  its  abode 
on  its  present  site,  Twenty-fourth  and 
Vine  streets,  in  a  building  three  stories 
high,  and  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the 
place  in  which  it  had  started.  From  time 
to  time  various  extensions  have  been 
added  to  the  original  building  until  at 
present  the  company  occupies  the  entire 
city  block  of  Vine,  Twenty-third,  Pearl 
and  Twenty-fourth  streets,  and  two-thirds 
of  the  block  bounded  by  Pearl,  Wood  and 
Twenty-third  streets.  Its  original  force 
of  five  or  six  men  has  increased  to  three 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


hundred,  with  a  capacity  for  five  hun- 
dred. Since  1885  tne  company  has 
branched  out  principally  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  locomotive  and  railroad  tools. 
For  many  years  it  has  made  a  specialty 
of  cold-saw  cutting-off  machines,  being 
recognized  as  the  largest  manufacturer 
of  these  machines  in  the  world  and  as 
authority  on  their  design.  At  both  the 
Chicago  and  St.  Louis  world's  fairs  the 
Newton  cold-saw  cutting-off  machines 
were  awarded  gold  medals.  The  Frank- 
lin Institute,  some  years  ago,  awarded  a 
premium  for  the  company's  universal 
milling  machine.  Another  specialty  of 
the  Newton  company  is  the  designing  and 
construction  of  heavy  machine  tools  for 
special  purposes,  and  it  has  furnished  a 
large  percentage  of  the  special  machine 
tools  installed  by  the  extensive  manu- 
facturers of  electrical  apparatus.  In  1897 
the  company  was  incorporated  under  its 
present  title. 

It  is  now  more  than  thirty-five  years 
since  Mr.  Champion  became  connected 
with  the  Newton  Machine  Tool  Works, 
Incorporated.  From  draughtsman  he  has 
advanced  to  president,  and  during  the 
years  of  his  progress,  as  well  as  since  he 
has  filled  the  position  of  leader,  he  has 
been  ever-increasingly  the  heart  and  soul 
of  the  business.  He  has  made  of  the 
concern  a  thoroughly  modern,  twentieth 
century  enterprise,  and  to-day  it  stands 
in  the  van  among  organizations  of  its 
kind.  We  have  his  authority  for  the 
gratifying  assurance  that,  in  the  design- 
ing of  machine  tools,  American  engineers 
lead  the  world.  Mr.  Champion  is  a  firm 
believer  in  the  power  of  advertising,  and 
by  his  methods  in  this  respect  has  im- 
mensely increased  the  trade  of  his  cor- 
poration. His  advertising,  however,  is 
always  strictly  impersonal.  Never  does 
he  talk  of  himself  or  of  what  he  is  doing. 


Vitally  present  as  he  is  in  every  depart- 
ment of  the  work  he  appears  only  in  the 
silent  but  most  effective  manifestation  of 
results.  He  is  most  emphatically  and  pre- 
eminently a  doer. 

Politically  Mr.  Champion  is  a  Repub- . 
lican  with  independent  tendencies.  Earn- 
estly public-spirited,  he  is  active,  as  far 
as  his  business  responsibilities  allow,  in 
community  affairs.  He  occupies  a  seat 
in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  is  vice- 
president  and  director  of  the  Auxiliary 
Fire  Alarm  Company  and  a  stockholder 
in  other  concerns.  He  affiliates  with 
Pennsylvania  Lodge,  No.  380,  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons;  the  Improved  Order 
of  Red  Men,  and  the  Benevolent  and  Pro- 
tective Order  of  Elks,  and  his  clubs  are 
the  Union  League,  the  White  Marsh 
Valley  Country  Club,  the  Engineers',  the 
Manufacturers',  and  the  Athletic,  all  of 
Philadelphia  ;  likewise,  the  Mohawk  Club, 
of  Schenectady,  New  York.  Mr.  Cham- 
pion belongs  to  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  the  Metal  Trade 
Association  and  the  Philadelphia  Board 
of  Trade. 

Mr.  Champion  married,  July  14,  1886, 
Matilda  G.,  daughter  of  Levi  and  Sophia 
(Frick)  Godshall,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
they  are  the  parents  of  two  daughters : 
Edna ;  and  Lelia,  wife  of  Donald  E.  Lind- 
sey,  of  Philadelphia,  who  is  now  with  the 
United  States  forces  in  France.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Champion  are  devoted  to  the  ties 
of  family  and  friendship  and  their  home 
is  a  center  of  gracious  hospitality. 

The  great  concern  which  he  has  so 
largely  built  up  and  maintained  has  been 
very  aptly  compared  to  the  lengthened 
shadow  of  Harry  W.  Champion  and  it  is 
a  shadow  that  will  not  pass  away.  It  is 
an  organization  which,  as  the  years  go 
on,  will  form  one  of  the  industrial  bul- 
warks of  Philadelphia. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


MILLER,  George  J., 

Business  Man. 

Four  generations  of  this  branch  of  the 
Miller  family  have  resided  in  Luzerne 
county,  Pennsylvania,  George  Miller,  of 
Dutch  ancestry,  coming  from  the  State 
of  Connecticut  early  in  the  nineteenth 
century  and  founding  the  family  of  which 
his  great-grandson,  George  J.  Miller,  a 
prominent  business  man  of  Pittston, 
Pennsylvania,  is  a  twentieth  century  rep- 
resentative. George  Miller,  a  farmer, 
was  a  leading  man  of  his  district,  but 
the  last  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  the 
home  of  his  daughter,  Kate,  where  he 
died.  He  was  laid  at  rest  in  the  old 
Cooper  burying  ground  at  Plains.  He 
had  sons :  Jacob  M.,  George,  Daniel, 
Moses,  Conrad,  and  John,  also  daughters : 
Polly,  Kate,  and  Peggy.  The  line  of 
descent  is  through  his  son,  Jacob  M., 
grandfather  of  George  J.  Miller,  of  Pitts- 
ton. 

Jacob  M.  Miller  was  born  in  Wilkes- 
Barre,  Pennsylvania,  May  22,  1809,  and 
died  in  Princess  Anne  county,  Maryland, 
July  17,  1879.  He  remained  in  Luzerne 
county  until  1846,  a  boat  builder,  having 
a  yard  at  the  basin  where  he  repaired  and 
built  boats  for  the  river  trade,  but  later 
he  became  a  contractor  and  builder. 
About  1846  he  moved  to  Oregon,  going 
from  there  to  the  State  of  Maryland, 
about  1873,  and  purchasing  a  plantation 
•in  Princess  Anne  county.  He  was  a 
devout  Methodist,  a  founder  of  the  First 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  at  Pittston, 
Pennsylvania,  and  a  man  of  just  and  up- 
right life.  He  resided  on  his  Maryland 
plantation  for  six  years,  1873-1879,  and 
there  died.  He  married,  January  1,  1831, 
Hannah  Stark,  born  July  28,  1810,  died 
at  .Pittston,  Pennsylvania,  March  16, 
1858,  daughter  of  John  Stark,  of  Wilkes- 
Barre.     They  were  the  parents  of  sons: 


John  G.,  Wadsworth,  Kennard  S.,  and 
Charles;  and  daughters:  Mary,  Hannah 
S.,  Mrs.  Nellie  Thayer,  of  Scranton, 
Pennsylvania ;  and  Mrs.  C.  A.  Porter,  of 
Auburn,  New  York.  The  line  continues 
through  John  G.  Miller,  father  of  George 
J.  Miller,  of  Pittston. 

John  G.  Miller  was  born  in  Plains,  Lu- 
zerne county,  Pennsylvania,  January  22, 
1832,  and  died  in  Pittston,  October  2, 
1902.  He  was  educated  in  the  district 
schools  of  the  town,  and  at  Wyoming 
Seminary  at  Kingston,  Pennsylvania,  and 
after  completing  his  studies  learned  the 
carpenter's  trade.  He  worked  for  sev- 
eral years  as  a  journeyman,  finally  becom- 
ing a  contractor  and  spending  the  remain- 
ing years  of  his  life  engaged  in  building 
operations.  He  erected  many  of  the  pub- 
lic and  private  buildings  in  Pittston  and 
vicinity,  his  reputation  as  a  skilled  builder 
and  reliable  contractor  ranking  with  the 
highest.  He  was  the  leading  builder  in 
Pittston  for  many  years,  and  a  citizen 
beyond  reproach.  He  was  an  influential 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church ;  a  Republican  in  politics ;  his 
fraternal  order,  The  United  American 
Mechanics.  He  married,  in  1863,  Mary 
Bowman,  born  1844,  died  1888,  daughter 
of  John  and  Mary  Bowman,  of  Shenan- 
doah, Pennsylvania.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Miller 
were  the  parents  of  ten  children,  three  of 
whom  grew  to  mature  years :  George  J., 
of  further  mention;  Kenneth  Stark,  and 
Gertrude. 

George  J.  Miller,  eldest  child  of  John 
G.  and  Mary  (Bowman)  Miller,  was 
born  in  Pittston,  Pennsylvania,  March 
18,  1865,  and  there  yet  resides.  He  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools,  learned  the 
carpenter's  trade,  and  until  1893  was  asso- 
ciated with  his  father  in  the  contracting 
and  building  business.  In  that  year  he 
withdrew  from  that  line  of  business  activ- 
ity, but  remained  in  Pittston,  where  for  five 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


years  he  was  engaged  in  the  ice  business. 
He  then  sold  out  to  the  Citizens'  Ice  Com- 
pany, and  in  1898,  in  company  with  O.  C. 
Foster,  purchased  of  Coward  &  Stark  the 
business  of  the  Pittston  Iron  Roofing 
Company.  The  business  was  soon  aban- 
doned, and  after  its  sale  Mr.  Miller 
engaged  in  stock  dealing  with  sale  sta- 
bles in  Port  Blanchard,  horses  and  mules 
the  special  lines  handled.  This  business, 
begun  in  a  small  way,  has  been  a  most 
successful  and  profitable  one,  the  larg- 
est of  its  kind  in  that  section  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, its  every  branch  now  being  de- 
voted to  the  service  of  the  United  States 
Government,  Mr.  Miller  traveling  the 
Western  country,  buying  horses  and 
mules  to  be  used  for  army  purposes  at 
home  and  abroad.  He  has  very  capably 
performed  "his  bit"  in  this  particular 
field,  and  has  furnished  the  Government 
with  hundreds  of  horses  and  mules,  each 
one  especially  selected  for  a  definite  pur- 
pose. He  is  a  member  of  the  City  En- 
gineers' Club  of  Scranton,  Pennsylvania ; 
Wyoming  Valley  Lodge,  Free  and  Ac- 
cepted Masons ;  and  of  all  bodies  of  Key- 
stone Consistory,  Ancient  Accepted  Scot- 
tish Rite  of  Scranton,  he  being  a  thirty- 
second  degree  Mason  of  that  body.  He 
is  also  a  noble  of  Irem  Temple,  Ancient 
Arabic  Order  Nobles  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania. 
In  political  faith  he  is  a  Republican,  and 
in  religious  preference  a  Presbyterian, 
affiliated  with  the  First  Church  of  West 
Pittston. 

Mr.  Miller  married,  September  18,  1890, 
Mary  Harriet  Hodgdon,  born  April  29, 
1863,  at  Port  Blanchard,  Luzerne  county, 
Pennsylvania,  daughter  of  Samuel  and 
Mary  (Blanchard)  Hodgdon.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Miller  are  the  parents  of  two  sons: 
George  Edward,  born  December  24,  1893, 
educated  in  the  Pittston  public  schools 
and    Charlotte    Hall    Military   Academy, 


Charlotte  Hall,  Maryland,  now  sergeant 
Q.  M.  C,  N.  A.,  Auxiliary  Remount 
Depot,  No.  333,  United  States  Army,  in 
training  at  Camp  Joseph  E.  Johnson, 
Jacksonville,  Florida;  and  Richard,  born 
March  6,  1899,  educated  in  West  Pittston 
grade  and  high  schools,  and  Wyoming 
Seminary,    Kingston,    Pennsylvania. 


BOOKMYER,  Edwin  Arthur, 

Insurance   Broker. 

Prominently  known  among  the  aggres- 
sive business  men  of  Philadelphia  is  Ed- 
win A.  Bookmyer,  head  of  the  firm  of 
Beidler  &  Bookmyer,  insurance  brokers. 
Mr.  Bookmyer  is  actively  identified  with 
various  other  enterprises,  and  all  that 
makes  for  the  advancement  of  his  city 
finds  in  him  a  warm  supporter. 

Edwin  Arthur  Bookmyer  was  born  at 
Mount  Joy,  Lancaster  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, October  3,  1872,  son  of  Harvey  A. 
and  Sally  C.  (Beidler)  Bookmyer.  Both 
the  Bookmyer  and  Beidler  families  are 
well-known  families  of  Eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania. Harvey  A.  Bookmyer,  father  of 
Edwin  A.  Bookmyer,  was  a  veteran  of 
the  Civil  War,  having  served  in  the  Sixth 
United  States  Cavalry;  his  wife,  Sally  C. 
(Beidler)  Bookmyer,  was  a  descendant 
of  the  Wayne  family,  so  prominently  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  the  country. 

Edwin  A.  Bookmyer  received  his  edu- 
tion  in  the  schools  of  his  section,  and 
came  to  Philadelphia  in  1S88,  entering 
the  insurance  business  with  E.  R.  Beid- 
ler, with  whom  he  remained  for  ten  years, 
and  during  which  time  he  became  a  part- 
ner with  Mr.  Beidler  in  the  business,  the 
firm  name  becoming  Beidler  &  Book- 
myer. In  1900  Mr.  Beidler  retired  and 
Mr.  Bookmyer  took  over  the  entire  enter- 
prise, of  which  he  has  since  remained 
sole  owner  and  active  head.  He  has,  by 
ability  and  energy,  built  up  a  large  clien- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


tele,  and  is  favorably  known  throughout 
the  country,  and  has  a  large  office  in  New 
York. 

The  business  qualifications  of  Mr. 
Bookmyer  have  always  been  in  great 
demand  on  boards  of  directors  of  various 
institutions,  and  he  has  accepted  of  many 
such  trusts.  He  is  treasurer  and  direc- 
tor of  the  Janney  Lumber  Company ; 
vice-president  and  director  of  the  North 
'  Broad  Storage  Company ;  director  and 
treasurer  of  the  Mercantile  Library,  and 
is  a  stockholder  in  other  concerns.  Of 
social  nature,  he  is  a  member  of  many 
clubs,  among  them  being  the  Manufac- 
turers', Columbia,  Overbrook  Golf,  Lu 
Lu  Country,  Seaview  Golf,  Rotary  Club, 
Insurance  Society,  Cedar  Park  Driv- 
ing, Philadelphia  Skating  Club,  Chelsea 
Yacht,  Downtown,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
Bankers'  Club,  of  New  York  City.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Historical  Society 
of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce.  His  political  affiliations  are 
those  of  the  Republican  party,  and 
although  he  has  never  held  office  he  takes 
a  sincere  interest  in  all  questions  of  politi- 
cal and  civic  moment.  His  church  is  the 
Episcopal.  His  only  fraternal  order  is 
that  of  Mason,  his  lodge  being  Columbia, 
No.  91.  One  very  distinctive  feature  of 
Mr.  Bookmyer's  personality  and  one 
which  undoubtedly  has  had  much  to  do 
with  his  success  is  his  capacity  for  hard 
work.  His  general  appearance,  his  ex- 
pression, his  manner  and  the  glance  of  his 
eyes  are  all  indicative  of  quiet  power  and 
also  of  a  kindness  and  good  will  which 
has  drawn  to  him  many  warm  and  loyal 
friends. 

Mr.  Bookmyer  married  Anna  H., 
daughter  of  John  and  Anne  M.  (Tunley) 
Taylor,  of  Philadelphia.  Mr.> Taylor  was 
a  member  of  the  old  firm  of  Taylor  & 
Dolan,  of  Philadelphia,  of  which  the  late 
Thomas  Dolan  was  also  a  partner.     Mr. 


and  Mrs.  Bookmyer  are  the  parents  of 
the  following  children:  1.  Roy  P.,  born 
September  24,  1892,  educated  at  Delancey 
School  and  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
now  an  ensign  in  the  United  States  Navy. 
2.  Edwin  Arthur,  Jr.,  born  August  2, 
1898,  educated  at  Chestnut  Hill  Academy. 


JONES,  Thomas  D., 

Coal  Operator. 

Loyalty,  courage,  an  abiding  sense  of 
justice  and  the  binding  force  of  obliga- 
tions are  the  qualities  which  above  all 
others,  perhaps,  we  should  take  as  form- 
ing the  keystone  of  the  character  of  the 
late  Thomas  D.  Jones,  whose  death  in  his 
home  at  Hazleton,  Pennsylvania,  April 
2,  1917,  is  mourned  by  the  entire  com- 
munity, a  character  that  for  many  years 
exerted  a  wholesome  and  uplifting  influ- 
ence upon  all  those  who  were  fortunate 
enough  to  come  into  contact  with  it,  and 
upon  the  development  of  one  of  the 
greatest  of  American  industries,  coal 
mining,  with  which  he  was  so  intimately 
identified.  The  careers  of  some  men  are 
easy  to  treat  from  the  fact  that  all  their 
energies  are  directed  into  one  particular 
channel,  but  in  the  case  of  such  a  man  as 
Thomas  D.  Jones,  whose  versatility  was 
so  great,  and  whose  influence  was  exerted 
in  so  many  different  ways,  we  find  it  dif- 
ficult to  place  any  one  thing  as  his  para- 
mount work,  any  one  achievement  as  of 
more  importance  than  the  rest.  That 
which  was  the  most  striking,  of  course, 
and  for  which  the  outside  world  knew 
him  best,  was  his  masterly  direction  of 
the  great  coal  interests  with  which  he 
was  connected,  but  whether  or  not  more 
actual  good  for  the  remainder  of  the 
world  was  wrought  in  this  manner,  or 
by  some  of  the  more  subtle  and  intangi- 
ble   forms    in    which    his    character    and 


123 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


activities  expressed  themselves,  it  would 
be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  state. 

Thomas  D.  Jones  was  of  Welsh  birth 
and  parentage,  being  born  at  Merthyr 
Tydvil,  in  that  most  picturesque  of  lands, 
Southern  Wales,  January  28,  1842.  He 
was  the  only  child  of  Daniel  and  Ann 
(Vaughn)  Jones,  who  were,  like  him- 
self, natives  of  that  region.  In  1850, 
when  Thomas  D.  was  a  lad  of  but  eight 
years  of  age,  his  parents  left  their  native 
land  and  came  to  the  United  States. 
Pennsylvania,  like  Wales,  was  a  great 
coal  mining  region,  and  it  was  here  that 
the  Jones  family  came,  settling  at  Nes- 
quehoning,  Carbon  county.  It  was  at 
that  place  that  the  early  years  of  his  life 
were  passed,  and*  there  that  he  gained  as 
much  schooling  as  the  circumstances  of 
his  life  gave  him  opportunity  for. 
Upon  completing  his  studies  at  the  local 
schools,  the  youth  made  his  way  to  the 
town  of  Lansford,  Pennsylvania,  and 
there  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business 
for  some  two  years.  He  was  distinctly 
successful  and  displayed  even  at  that 
early  age  a  talent  for  business  and  a 
judgment  and  foresight  quite  unusual. 
However,  there  were  other  interests  in 
Pennsylvania  at  that  time  that  soon 
claimed  his  attention,  and  he  gave  up  his 
mercantile  venture  to  engage  in  coal 
mining,  which  was  at  that  time  in  the 
midst  of  its  most  rapid  period  of  devel- 
opment and  expansion.  Mr.  Jones,  with 
his  characteristic  good  judgment,  per- 
ceived the  great  opportunities  awaiting 
the  man  of  enterprise  and  action  in  this 
great  industry  in  a  commodity  for  which 
the  demand  was  practically  unlimited  and 
the  supply  well-nigh  inexhaustible.  In 
the  year  1869  he  secured  a  position  as 
assistant  engineer  with  the  Lehigh  Coal 
and  Navigation  Company,  and  worked  in 
that  capacity  until  1872,  when  he  was 
made  superintendent  of  collieries  for  the 


same  concern.  His  progress  in  mastering 
the  difficult  problems  of  his  occupation 
was  amazing,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
he  was  justly  regarded  as  an  expert  on 
all  questions  connected  with  the  subject. 
In  1875  ne  was  appointed  mine  inspec- 
tor for  the  Fourth  District  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, a  position  that  required  not  only 
great  knowledge  of  the  coal  mining  situ- 
ation, but  also  a  large  measure  of  tact 
and  the  quality  of  leadership.  His  term 
was  of  six  years'  duration,  but  imme- 
diately upon  its  conclusion,  in  1881,  he 
was  reappointed,  as  his  work  had  been  so 
eminently  satisfactory.  He  had  served  but 
a  short  time  in  his  second  term,  however, 
when  he  was  offered  the  position  of  super- 
intendent of  the  collieries  of  the  Eber- 
vale  Coal  Company,  a  very  extensive  sys- 
tem of  mines  and  works  with  an  enorm- 
ous productive  capacity.  This  offer  was 
another  great  tribute  to  Mr.  Jones'  abil- 
ity and  skill  and,  as  it  was  a  much  more 
remunerative  post,  he  accepted  it,  resign- 
ing from  that  of  inspector.  In  1886  he 
accepted  the  office  of  superintendent  and 
manager  of  the  Mill  Creek  Coal  Com- 
pany, one  of  the  largest  concerns  of  its 
kind  in  this  region,  and  from  that  time 
until  the  close  of  his  life  continued  to  be 
associated  with  that  company.  He  was 
later  elected  to  the  double  post  of  vice- 
president  and  general  manager  of  this 
company,  and  continued  in  virtual  con- 
trol of  its  operations  until  his  death,  his 
skillful  hand  guiding  it  to  the  great  devel- 
opment of  its  successful  business.  Upon 
taking  this  office  Mr.  Jones  came  to  Ha- 
zleton  to  live  and  had  made  this  place  his 
permanent  home. 

Mr.  Jones  was  keenly  interested  in 
every  aspect  of  the  life  of  the  community, 
and  especially  made  it  his  business  to 
keep  in  touch  with  every  movement  un- 
dertaken for  the  common  good  and  to 
aid  them  by  every  means  in  his  power. 


[24 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


He  did  much  to  advance  the  business  and 
financial  interests  of  the  community,  and 
was  a  director  of  the  Hazleton  National 
Bank,  director  of  the  Hazleton  Iron 
Works,  president  for  a  number  of  years 
of  the  Hazleton  Steam  Heating  Com- 
pany. He  was  also  active  in  church 
affairs,  and  was  a  prominent  member  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  here,  and 
president  of  the  board  of  trustees.  As 
president  of  the  United  Charities  of  Ha- 
zleton, he  did  much  to  alleviate  want  and 
the  distress  of  poverty  hereabouts.  In 
politics  Mr.  Jones  was  a  staunch  Repub- 
lican, yet  of  entirely  unpartisan  mind, 
voting  always  as  his  conscience  and  judg- 
ment bade  him.  His  large  duties  and 
heavy  responsibilities  rendered  it  impos- 
sible for  him  to  take  the  part  in  public 
affairs  for  which  his  talents  and  abilities 
so  eminently  fitted  him,  yet  he  was  felt 
as  a  potent  influence  in  local  affairs 
nevertheless  merely  because  of  the  effect 
of  his  personality  and  character.  He 
also  became  uncommonly  well  informed 
in  a  large  variety  of  subjects,  and  this 
and  his  ready  memory  and  ability  to 
quote  made  him  a  companion  as  inform- 
ing as  he  was  charming.  Although  quite 
unambitious  of  public 'office,  Mr.  Jones 
held  a  number  of  local  posts  at  the 
urgent  request  of  his  colleagues,  and  was 
especially  effective  as  a  member  and  the 
president  of  the  Hazleton  School  Board. 
He  also  was  a  member  of  the  Select 
Council  of  this  town  for  a  time.  He  was 
a  prominent  member  of  the  Masonic 
Order  here. 

Thomas  D.  Jones  was  united  in  mar- 
riage, January  4,  1870,  with  Ruth  Bynon, 
a  daughter  of  John  and  Mary  (Hughes) 
Bynon,  old  and  highly  respected  resi- 
dents of  Summithill,  Pennsylvania.  Mr. 
Bynon  was  a  native  of  Wales,  but  came 
to  the  United  States  in  early  youth,  and 
for  many  years  was  foreman  for  the  Le- 


high Coal  and  Navigation  Company, 
with  which  Mr.  Jones  was  also  associated 
for  a  time.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jones  the 
following  children  were  born:  Elmer, 
married  Louise  Dreyfoos  (deceased)  and 
by  her  had  one  daughter,  Ruth  Jones; 
Anna,  deceased  ;  Mary,  deceased ;  Gladys, 
who  became  the  wife  of  Alvin  Markle, 
Jr.,  and  has  borne  him  one  son,  Alvin 
Markle,  3d. 


GLENNON,  Joseph  H., 

Man  of  Affairs. 

As  vice-president  of  the  Miners'  Sav- 
ings Bank  of  Pittston,  Pennsylvania,  Jo- 
seph H.  Glennon  fills  a  high  position  of 
trust  in  the  community  in  which  he  began 
business  life  as  a  "breaker  boy."  He  has 
won  his  way  to  large  possessions  as  well, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  striking  examples 
of  the  possibilities  there  are  for  an  Amer- 
ican youth  to  rise,  does  he  but  possess 
the  necessary  stamina  and  ability. 

Mr.  Glennon  is  a  son  of  Patrick  F. 
Glennon,  born  in  County  Roscommon, 
Ireland,  and  educated  in  the  national 
schools.  He  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1846,  and  settled  in  Lowell,  Massa- 
chusetts, where  he  married  in  June,  1848, 
Catherine  E.  Loftus,  daughter  of  John 
and  Mary  (Early)  Loftus,  both  born  in 
County  Mayo,  Ireland.  In  1851  Mr. 
Glennon  moved  to  Pittston,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  there  became  a  coal  miner, 
continuing  for  twenty  years,  until  his 
death  in  a  mining  disaster.  November  3, 
1871.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Glennon  were  the 
parents  of  five  children:  Mary  E.,  born 
November  9,  1850,  married,  November 
12,  1872,  Edward  J.  Gibbons,  of  Port 
Griffith ;  Joseph  H.,  of  further  mention ; 
George  E.,  who  became  a  Christian 
Brother,  died  1882;  Theodolph  J.,  born 
September  9,  1859,  died  1906,  was  a  slate 
picker  for    eight    years,    later    a    driver, 


125 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


miner,  deputy  recorder  of  deeds,  then  in 
the  employ  of  Hughes  &  Glennon,  of 
Pittston;  David,  born  April  n,  1863,  be- 
came principal  of  the  Port  Griffith  pub- 
lic school ;  and  Agnes  V.,  a  school 
teacher. 

Joseph  H.  Glennon  was  born  in 
Port  Griffith,  Jenkins  township,  Luzerne 
county,  Pennsylvania,  January  26,  1855. 
He  attended  school  until  ten  years  of  age, 
then  began  work  as  a  slate  picker  at 
the  Port  Bowkley  breaker.  During  the 
following  five  years  he  worked  at  the 
breaker,  but  studied  all  the  time  he  could 
and  attended  school  at  such  times  as  he 
was  able.  But  in  spite  of  his  handicap 
he  was  so  apt  and  advanced  so  quickly 
that,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  passed  the 
teacher's  examination  held  by  the  county 
superintendent  of  public  instruction,  Mr. 
Campbell.  He  did  not  teach,  however, 
but  was  variously  employed  until  his 
twentieth  year,  when  he  entered  the 
mines,  continuing  a  miner  for  two  years. 
He  then  entered  the  employ  of  J.  B.  Lan- 
gan,  a  large  wholesale  baker  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  as  salesman,  and  during  the  winter 
enrolled  as  a  student  of  elocution,  his 
intention  being  then  to  later  take  up  law 
studies.  This  plan  was  never  carried 
through,  however,  Mr.  Glennon  entering 
the  employ  of  H.  R.  Hughes  &  Son,  on 
January  1,  1880.  Hughes  &  Son  were 
then  conducting  a  brewery  at  Pittston, 
and  as  their  selling  agent  in  Wilkes- 
Barre  he  spent  three  years.  Later  Rich- 
ard M.  Hughes,  the  son,  and  Mr.  Glen- 
non, purchased  the  Forest  Castle  Brew- 
ery, in  Pittston,  owned  by  H.  R.  Hughes 
&  Son,  the  new  partnership,  Hughes  & 
Glennon,  going  into  effect  in  March, 
1887.  This  firm  operated  the  Forest  Cas- 
tle Brewery  for  eleven  years,  then  sold 
to  the  Pennsylvania  Brewing  Company, 
Mr.  Glennon  being  retained  as  manager 
of  the  Pittston  plant  of  the  company,  a 


position  he  held  until  1907,  when  he 
resigned. 

In  1907  Mr.  Glennon  erected  the  large 
modern  brewing  plant  in  Pittston  known 
as  the  Glennon  Brewery,  of  which  he  is 
owner  and  general  manager,  and  has 
established  a  connection  with  establish- 
ments all  over  Eastern  Pennsylvania  and 
in  New  York  State.  In  1897  he  was 
elected  a  director  of  the  People's  Savings 
Bank,  later  became  vice-president,  and  in 
1908  was  elected  president.  When  the 
People's  Savings  Bank  was  merged  with 
the  Union  Savings  and  Trust  Company, 
March  29,  1909,  Mr.  Glennon  resigned  his 
offices.  In  1903  he  was  elected  a  direc- 
tor of  the  Miners'  Savings  Bank  of  Pitts- 
ton, and  in  1916  was  elected  vice-presi- 
dent. He  is  treasurer  and  director  of  the 
Mountain  Spring  Ice  Company,  was 
president  of  the  Old  Ferry  Bridge  Com- 
pany, and  a  director  of  the  Citizens'  Elec- 
tric Illuminating  Company,  both  now  out 
of  existence.  He  is  president  of  the  Good 
Roads  League,  president  of  St.  Vincent 
DePaul  Society,  an  office  he  has  long 
held,  is  a  member  of  St.  John's  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  is  most  generous  in  the 
support  of  the  charities  and  benevolences 
of  his  church  and  city,  ever  ready  to  aid 
a  worthy  cause.  He  is  a  Democrat  in 
his  political  faith,  and  in  1883  he  was 
elected  recorder  of  deeds  for  Luzerne 
county  for  a  three  years'  term,  a  post  of 
responsibility  he  efficiently  filled.  In 
1884  he  was  alternate  delegate  to  the  Na- 
tional Democratic  Convention  held  in 
Chicago  which  nominated  Grover  Cleve- 
land for  President  of  the  United  States, 
he  the  first  successful  candidate  of  the 
party  for  that  office  since  the  election  of 
James  Buchanan  in  1856. 

Mr.  Glennon  married,  October  30, 
1884,  Agnes  A.  Allen,  of  Pittston,  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Anna  (McCann)  Allen, 
her  father  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
26 


cA/M^J>  A      ^Y&Jaj^jx^ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


trustworthy  engineers  in  the  employ  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company  for 
many  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Glennon  are 
the  parents  of  a  daughter,  Regina,  born 
August  19,  1885,  died  January  9,  1909, 
and  a  son,  Allen,  born  May  28,  1887,  a 
graduate  of  Holy  Cross  College,  Worces- 
ter, Massachusetts,  and  of  Washington 
University,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  director 
of  the  Dime  Savings  Bank,  Pittston,  and 
assistant  manager  of  the  Glennon  Brew- 
eries. 


McGREGOR,  Arthur  Francis, 

Oil  Producer. 

As  a  type  of  the  successful  American 
business  man  evolved  from  the  stranger 
who  sought  opportunity  within  our  gates, 
Arthur  F.  McGregor  is  a  splendid  and 
shining  example.  He  was  born  at  Cas- 
tleweelen,  County  Down,  Ireland,  Janu- 
ary 16,  1843,  son  of  Nicholas  and  Mary 
(McClain)  McGregor. 

Arthur  F.  McGregor  remained  at  home 
and  attended  the  schools  of  the  parish 
until  fourteen  years  of  age,  then  became 
a  worker  on  a  nearby  farm.  A  little  later 
he  went  to  England,  where  he  was  em- 
ployed in  a  Liverpool  brickyard,  brick- 
making  being  a  business  with  which  he 
was  somewhat  familiar,  members  of  his 
family  having  been  so  engaged  in  Ire- 
land, and  his  elder  brother  being  the 
founder  of  the  Liverpool  plant  in  which 
Arthur  F.  found  employment.  Liverpool 
was,  however,  but  a  temporary  stopping 
place  in  the  long  journey  the  lad  had 
planned  for  himself,  and  he  at  once 
began  the  accumulation  of  a  fund  which 
would  carry  him  across  the  seas  to  the 
United  States.  It  was  not  until  1862  that 
he  left  England  for  New  York,  he  then 
being  a  young  man  of  nineteen  years.  He 
found  a  home  and  position  in  Brooklyn, 
New  York,  and  in  November,  1862,  began 


work  with  the  firm,  Marshall  &  Water- 
bury,  in  their  rope  factory.  He  remained 
in  that  employ  until  May,  1863,  then  he 
removed  to  Haverstraw,  New  York,  as 
now,  the  seat  of  an  important  brickmak- 
ing  industry.  He  there  worked  at  brick- 
making  and  in  a  machine  shop,  continuing 
until  October,  1863.  His  next  move  was 
to  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  where  for 
about  a  year  he  was  fireman  on  steam- 
boats plying  the  Ohio  river.  He  then 
became  a  worker  in  the  steel  mills,  begin- 
ing  as  a  puddler  in  the  Pittsburgh  Rool- 
ing  Mills,  continuing  in  Pittsburgh  until 
1872,  holding  good  positions  and  becom- 
ing thoroughly  expert  in  the  various  pro- 
cesses of  steel  making.  In  1872,  attracted 
by  the  rich  opportunities  offered  by  the 
rapidly  developing  oil  region  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, he  went  to  Armstrong  county, 
locating  at  Parkers  Landing,  there  en- 
gaging as  a  pipe  line  operator.  From 
Parkers  Landing  he  went  to  Petrolia, 
Butler  county,  there  becoming  superin- 
tendent of  the  oil  properties  of  Braw- 
ley  Brothers,  a  position  he  held  for  three 
years.  He  located  in  Bradford  in  1879, 
and  since  that  time  has  made  that  city  his 
home  and  business  headquarters.  From 
1879  until  1883  he  was  associated  with 
F.  E.  Boden,  going  thence  to  the  Mc- 
Callmont  Company,  an  important  pro- 
ducing company,  owning  many  wells, 
some  of  them  heavy  producers.  He  held 
the  position  of  superintendent  with  Mc- 
Callmont  Company  until  1891,  then  began 
business  for  himself  as  an  oil  producer. 
He  had  been  preparing  for  that  move  and 
had  acquired  some  good  leases  which  he 
began  working  in  1891,  continuing  their 
operation  very  successfully  for  several 
years.  He  had  then  acquired  sufficient 
capital  and  reputation  to  take  his  place 
among  the  large  operators,  and  after  sell- 
ing his  original  holdings  purchased  larger 
and  larger  leases,  adding  to  his  flowing 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


properties  each  year  until  he  became  one 
of  the  prominent  operators  of  his  section. 
His  private  business  is  a  very  large  one, 
and  in  addition  he  has  large  oil  interests 
with  others,  and  is  one  of  the  men  re- 
sponsible for  a  great  deal  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  oil  industry.  He  has  pros- 
pered in  his  undertakings  and  taken  an 
interested  part  in  all  departments  of  Brad- 
ford life,  the  success  which  has  come  to 
him  being  shared  liberally  with  others 
less  fortunate  and  in  movements  tending 
to  promote  the  public  good. 

Mr.  McGregor  is  affiliated  with  Brad- 
ford Lodge,  Benevolent  and  Protective 
Order  of  Elks ;  the  Knights  of  Colum- 
bus ;  and  St.  Bernard's  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  He  possesses  that  buoyant, 
indomitable  spirit,  keen  sense  of  humor, 
and  love  of  the  beautiful  which  distin- 
guishes his  countrymen,  and  is  one  of 
the  most  popular  of  men,  his  circle  of 
acquaintances  very  wide  and  his  hospi- 
tality boundless.  He  has  gained  a  posi- 
tion in  the  business  world,  based  on  an 
honorable  achievement,  character  and  in- 
tegrity, but  his  social  standing  has  been 
won  through  those  admirable  traits 
described,  and  in  his  home  and  social 
life  is  true  and  loyal,  seeking  the  good 
of  others  first. 

Mr.  McGregor  married,  December  II, 
1913,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Meyers,  of  Pitts- 
burgh,  Pennsylvania. 


HEINEMANN,  Nicholas  William, 

Manufacturer. 

The  life  story  of  Nicholas  W.  Heine- 
mann  began  in  the  United  States  in  185 1. 
When  a  child  of  three  years  he  was 
brought  from  his  native  Germany  by  his 
parents,  Christopher  and  Wilhelmena 
(Hartman)  Heinemann.  The  family  set- 
tled in  Colegrove,  McKean  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, but  two  years  later  returned  to 


New  York.  Settlement  was  again  made 
at  Colegrove  not  long  afterward  and 
there  the  senior  Heinemann  bought  a 
farm  and  engaged  in  manufacturing  lum- 
ber in  an  "up  and  down"  water  power 
saw  mill  he  built.  There  were  eight 
children  in  the  Heinemann  family,  Nich- 
olas W.  being  the  sixth.  His  early  life 
was  one  of  toil,  as  his  father  was  one  of 
the  pioneers  in  his  district,  but  the  condi- 
tions developed  a  strong,  frugal,  hard- 
working boy,  who  in  turn  developed  into 
the  successful  business  man,  quick  to 
realize  and  grasp  opportunities,  to  turn 
nature's  gifts  to  his  profit.  He  acquired 
a  large  fortune,  in  a  most  honorable  man- 
ner, no  one  being  sacrificed  or  torn  down 
that  he  might  rise.  He  converted  the 
forests  into  lumber,  made  the  land  he 
owned  yield  bountifully,  and  left  the 
world  richer  for  his  life. 

Nicholas  W.  Heinemann  was  born  in 
Duderstadt,  a  town  of  Prussia,  in  Han- 
over, November  25,  1848,  and  he  died  at 
his  farm  in  Colegrove,  McKean  county, 
Pennsylvania,  December  26,  1917.  The 
second  coming  to  McKean  county  was 
in  185 1  and  the  return  to  New  York  in 
1853,  the  final  settlement  being  in  1S54. 
The  father  cultivated  his  farm  until  1865, 
then  built  a  saw  mill  to  run  by  water 
power,  but  at  about  that  same  time  Nich- 
olas W.,  who  had  attended  the  district 
school  and  helped  on  the  farm,  began 
working  for  the  Philadelphia  &  Erie 
Railroad,  that  road  then  being  in  course 
of  construction  between  Wilcox  and 
Kane.  The  saw  mill  proving  a  success, 
he  returned  to  the  home  farm  and  with 
his  brother  John  aided  their  father  at  the 
mill  and  on  the  farm  until  both  were  of 
legal  age.  The  brothers  then  bought  and 
operated  the  saw  mill  jointly  for  several 
years,  then  Nicholas  W.  bought  his 
brother's  interest,  John  moving  to  Vir- 
ginia. 


128 


C*sfc4ts 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


After  purchasing  his  brother's  interest 
and  buying  the  homestead  farm,  Nicholas 
W.  Heinemann  rebuilt  the  mill,  intro- 
duced steam  as  a  motive  power,  put  in 
new  machinery  and  became  heavily  en- 
gaged in  the  lumber  business,  his  mill 
producing  at  one  time  30,000  feet  daily. 
He  bought  large  tracts  of  timber  land  in 
Norwich  and  Liberty  townships,  Mc- 
Kean  county,  and  converted  the  hemlock 
and  hardwood  timber  into  merchantable 
lumber.  In  course  of  time  there  was  not 
sufficient  timber  within  reach  of  his  mill 
to  keep  him  busily  engaged,  and  the  man- 
ufacture of  chemicals  was  begun,  the 
wood  he  already  owned  furnishing  the 
raw  material  from  which  wood  chemicals 
were  produced.  This  work  was  carried 
forward  by  the  Heinemann  Chemical 
Company,  of  which  Nicholas  W.  Heine- 
mann was  founder,  chief  owner  and  pres- 
ident. The  manufacture  of  chemicals  be- 
came his  leading  business  activity,  he 
also  being  president  of  the  Norwich 
Chemical  Company  with  plants  at  Crosby 
and  Smethport.  The  thousands  of  acres 
which  Mr.  Heinemann  possessed  and 
cleared  of  lumber  were  many  of  them  rich 
in  reservoirs  of  natural  gas,  which  were 
tapped  and  converted  into  a  valuable 
asset  and  some  petroleum  was  also  pro- 
duced. Mr.  Heinemann  spent  his  entire 
business  life  in  the  manufacture  of  lum- 
ber and  wood  chemical  products,  these 
natural  resources  being  the  source  of  his 
fortune.  He  was  always  a  worker  and 
once  his  keen  business  sense  pointed  the 
way  he  prosecuted  his  enterprises  with 
all  his  vigor.  He  was  interested  in  the 
Grange  National  Bank  of  McKean  county 
from  its  foundation,  and  was  highly 
esteemed  as  one  of  the  solid,  substantial 
men  of  his  community. 

Mr.    Heinemann    married,    October    1, 

1874,  Anna  Belle  Waffle,  of  Elm  Valley, 

New  York,  who  survives  him,  daughter 

Pa_10_9  1 


of  George  and  Betsey  (Knight)  Waffle. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Heinemann  were  the  par- 
ents of  two  daughters:  1.  Bessie  Wil- 
helmina,  born  April  13,  1880,  married 
Laurence  E.  Scanlan.  2.  Mary  Theresa, 
born  January  21,  1883,  married  Will  H. 
Gallup,  of  Crosby,  Pennsylvania,  who 
was  associated  with  his  father-in-law  in 
his  later  enterprises,  contributing  largely 
to  their  success. 

During  the  last  two  years  of  his  life 
Mr.  Heinemann  became  an  invalid  and 
sought  health  at  Johns  Hopkins  Hospi- 
tal in  Baltimore,  and  at  sanitariums  in 
Wellsville  and  Hornell,  New  York.  But 
his  work  was  done,  and  on  December  29, 
1917,  he  was  borne  to  his  last  resting 
place  in  Colegrove  Cemetery,,  the  six  pall- 
bearers being  men  who  had  been  in  his 
employ  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century. 


BUCKMAN,  Elmer  E., 

Public-Spirited    Citizen. 

Elmer  E.  Buckman,  the  popular  and 
capable  cashier  of  the  Wyoming  National 
Bank  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  public-spirited  citizen  of  Kingston,  is 
a  member  of  a  family  which  has  long  been 
associated  with  Northeastern  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  is  a  grandson  of  Stacy  C. 
Buckman,  of  Newtown  township,  Bucks 
county,  in  this  State,  who  for  many  years 
held  a  prominent  position  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. He  married  Sarah  Ann  Briggs, 
and  they  were  the  parents  of  Micajah 
Speakman  Buckman,  the  father  of  Elmer 
E.  Buckman.  Micajah  Speakman  Buck- 
man,  like  his  father,  was  a  farmer  in  this 
part  of  the  State,  and  a  Quaker  in  relig- 
ion. He  married  Mary  D.  Taylor,  and 
they  were  the  parents  of  a  number  of  chil- 
dren, one  of  whom  was  Elmer  E.  Buck- 
man,  with  whose  career  we  are  here 
especially  concerned. 


29 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Born  on  August  n,  1861,  at  Tay- 
lorsville,  Bucks  county,  Pennsylvania, 
Elmer  E.  Buckman  passed  the  years  of 
his  childhood  on  his  father's  farm.  He  at- 
tended the  local  village  school  and  here 
gained  his  general  education,  growing 
up  to  manhood  amid  the  wholesome  rural 
surroundings  which  have  given  to  this 
country  its  best  type  of  citizenship.  On 
completing  his  studies  at  the  village 
school,  he  went  to  Trenton,  New  Jersey, 
where  he  entered  the  Capital  City  Com- 
mercial College  and  there  took  a  business 
course.  Having  graduated  from  this 
institution,  Mr.  Buckman  sought  and 
found  employment  with  the  Morrisville 
Rubber  Company  of  Morrisville,  Penn- 
sylvania. Here  he  continued  to  work 
for  a  while  and  then  went  back  to  Tren- 
ton, New  Jersey,  where  he  secured  a  posi- 
tion in  the  wholesale  and  retail  store  of 
Brearley  &  Stoll.  This  was  one  of  the 
well-known  establishments  of  Trenton, 
and  here  Mr.  Buckman  remained  until 
the  year  1886,  when  he  returned  to  Penn- 
sylvania and  settled  this  time  in  Wilkes- 
Barre.  He  was  twenty-five  years  of  age 
at  the  time  and  secured  a  good  clerical 
position  in  the  Old  Miners'  Savings  Bank. 
Two  years  later,  in  1888,  he  was  offered 
the  position  of  teller  in  the  Wyoming 
National  Bank  and  at  once  accepted,  and 
from  that  year  until  the  present  time  he 
has  been  continuously  associated  with 
this  large  and  important  institution.  He 
continued  to  prove  his  value  in  his  new 
position  and  made  himself  more  and 
more  important  until,  in  the  year  1908,  he 
was  made  assistant  cashier.  He  con- 
tinued to  act  in  this  capacity  until  Janu- 
ary 12,  1915,  when  he  was  elected  cashier 
of  the  bank  and  still  holds  this  office.  Mr. 
Buckman  has  thus  for  thirty  years  been 
associated  with  the  Wyoming  National 
Bank,  and  has  throughout  the  entire  per- 


iod enjoyed  the  most  absolute  confidence 
on  the  part  of  the  directors  and  bank 
officials.  He  has  taken  an  important  part 
in  developing  the  present  great  business 
of  the  institution,  and  the  future  holds 
an  even  brighter  promise  for  service  on 
his  part. 

Mr.  Buckman  has  always  taken  an 
active  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  city  of 
Wilkes-Barre,  where  his  business  inter- 
ests lie.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Westmore- 
land and  Kiwanis  Clubs  of  Wilkes-Barre. 
In  his  religious  belief  he  is  a  Methodist 
and  attends  the  First  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  of  Wilkes-Barre.  He  is  very 
active  in  the  work  of  the  congregation, 
and  holds  the  office  of  treasurer  of  the 
church  society. 

Elmer  E.  Buckman  was  united  in  mar- 
riage, October  5,  1893,  with  Bertha  M. 
Bannister,  of  Syracuse,  New  York,  born 
September  14,  1865,  a  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Edward  Bannister  and  Elizabeth 
(Mannering)  Bannister,  his  wife.  Rev. 
Edward  Bannister  was  a  prominent 
Methodist  Divine,  and  opened  in  San 
jose  at  the  end  of  1850-51  the  school 
which  moved  a  little  over  a  year  later 
to  Santa  Clara  and  which  later  developed 
into  the  University  of  the  Pacific  at  Santa 
Clara,  California ;  the  name  has  since 
been  changed  to  the  College  of  the  Pa- 
cific. To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Buckman  the 
following  children  have  been  born:  1. 
Helen,  September  4,  1894;  married,  Oc- 
tober 20,  1917,  Jerome  A.  Applequist,  of 
Syracuse,  New  York,  a  graduate  of  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
of  Boston.  2.  Alice,  born  January  13, 
1896;  employed  as  a  teacher  (1917)  at 
the  West  Pittston  High  School  at  West 
Pittston,  Pennsylvania.  3.  Henry  Tay- 
lor, born  June  18,  1902,  now  a  pupil  at 
the  Kingston  High  School  at  Kingston, 
Pennsylvania. 


_ > 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


MUENCH,  Louis, 

Manufacturer. 

The  supremacy  of  Pittsburgh  among 
the  industrial  cities  of  the  world  is  the 
supremacy  of  superior  brain  power,  and 
describing  a  man  as  a  leading  Pittsburgh 
manufacturer  is  equivalent  to  saying  that 
he  possesses  intelligence  of  a  high  order 
and  touches  life  at  many  points.  A  man 
of  this  type  is  Louis  Muench,  president, 
treasurer  and  director  of  the  Republic 
Chemical  Company. 

Louis  Muench's  father  was  George 
Muench,  born  in  Germany,  in  1801,  son 
of  a  minister.  After  completing  his  stud- 
ies of  theology  and  philosophy  at  the 
Giesen  University,  he  founded  a  Prepar- 
atory School  for  young  men  at  Homburg. 
When  thirty-four  years  of  age,  he  emi- 
grated, at  the  head  of  a  large  German 
Colony,  to  America,  where  he  settled  in 
Warren  county,  Missouri,  as  one  of  the 
early  pioneers  of  that  State.  He  left 
Germany  because  he  was  not  in  sym- 
pathy with  Prussian  Autocratic  Rule  and 
longed  to  breath  the  air  of  Democracy  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  He  was  one  of 
the  so-called  "Latin  farmers,"  took  a 
keen  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  was 
active  in  the  development  of  the  Middle 
West.  He  was  a  public  writer  and 
speaker,  and  prominent  in  bringing  Carl 
Schurz  to  the  front  when  he  was  elected 
to  the  United  States  Senate  by  the  State 
Legislature  of  Missouri.  George  Muench 
was  influential  in  holding  the  State  of 
Missouri  in  the  Union,  and  his  eldest  son, 
the  brother  of  Louis  Muench,  fought  in 
the  Civil  War  under  General  Siegel,  and 
was  severely  wounded  in  the  battle  of 
Wilson's  creek  in  Southwestern  Missouri. 
In  1847  George  Muench  returned  to  Ger- 
many under  the  auspices  of  the  Missouri 
Board  of  Immigration,  of  which  he  was 
a  member  and  of  which  the  Governor  was 


the  presiding  officer,  for  the  purpose  of 
promoting  German  immigration  to  Mis- 
souri. While  there,  he  wrote  a  number  of 
articles  setting  forth  the  advantages  of 
the  climate  and  soil  of  Missouri,  particu- 
larly for  horticulture,  and  returned  the 
same  year  with  another  colony  of  emi- 
grants. His  first  colony,  in  1835,  landed 
at  Baltimore  and  crossed  by  wagon  and 
ox  teams  the  Alleghenies  to  Wheeling, 
thence  to  the  Mississippi  by  boat  and  up 
the  Mississippi  to  St.  Louis.  The  second 
expedition  landed,  after  a  voyage  of  four- 
teen weeks,  at  New  Orleans,  and  from 
there  went  up  the  Mississippi  to  St. 
Louis.  Mr.  Muench  was  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Augusta,  Missouri,  where  he 
was  the  leader  in  all  public  affairs  and  did 
much  towards  the  educational  develop- 
ment and  the  public  school  system  of  the 
community.  He  died  in  1879,  survived 
by  his  wife  and  four  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter. His  wife,  the  mother  of  Louis 
Muench,  died  at  her  daughter's  home  in 
Chicago,  in  1899,  and  was  interred  in 
the  family  cemetery  at  Augusta,  Mis- 
souri, at  the  side  of  her  husband. 

Louis  Muench  was  born  on  a  farm  near 
Augusta,  St.  Charles  county,  Missouri, 
March  5,  1859,  son  of  George  and  Emma 
(Wolf)  Muench.  He  received  his  edu- 
cation in  the  schools  of  his  section,  and 
in  the  schools  of  Chicago,  to  which  city 
he  went  when  he  was  thirteen  years  of 
age.  His  first  employment  was  as  book- 
keeper and  accountant,  in  Chicago,  and 
in  1892  he  entered  the  can  manufacturing 
business  in  Chicago,  as  president  of  the 
Illinois  Can  Company.  He  remained  at 
the  head  of  this  company  until  1901,  when 
he  sold  it  to  the  American  Can  Com- 
pany. At  the  time  of  this  company's 
absorption  by  the  American  Can  Com- 
pany, Mr.  Muench  became  general  sales 
agent  of  the  American  Can  Company,  and 
was    also    elected    a    vice-president    and 


131 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


director  of  this  large  corporation,  known 
throughout  the  world.  He  held  this 
position  until  the  fall  of  1904,  when  he 
withdrew  from  business  and  spent  a  year 
traveling  throughout  Europe,  in  company 
with  his  family.  On  his  return  he  helped 
form  and  became  president  of  the  Amer- 
ican Dehydrating  Company,  of  Wau- 
kesha, Wisconsin.  This  company,  unique 
in  its  line,  takes  from  all  kinds  of  vege- 
tables and  fruits  the  water  and  waste  and 
preserves  the  vegetable  or  fruit  in  cans, 
which,  when  opened  and  the  water  re- 
absorbed, becomes  as  the  fresh  fruit  or 
vegetable.  The  concern  has  the  honor  of 
equipping  the  fleet  of  battleships  on  its 
cruise  around  the  world  under  Theodore 
Roosevelt's  administration,  in  1908.  Of 
this  company  Mr.  Muench  is  still  presi- 
dent. 

In  1912  Mr.  Muench,  in  association 
with  his  fellow  officers  of  the  American 
Dehydrating  Company,  bought  patents 
for  detinning  by  the  chlorine  process  tin 
scrap.  By  this  method  tin  scrap  is 
resolved  into  steel,  which  is  used  by  the 
open  hearth  steel  furnaces,  and  the  tin, 
in  combination  with  chlorine,  forms  tetra- 
chloride of  tin,  used  by  silk  manufactur- 
ers for  weighting  their  products ;  it  is 
also  used  variously  in  the  arts  and  indus- 
tries. The  company,  known  as  the  Re- 
public Chemical  Company,  has  a  large 
plant,  situated  on  Neville  Island,  Pitts- 
burgh, with  hundreds  of  employees,  and 
of  this  company  Mr.  Muench  is  presi- 
dent, treasurer  and  director.  In  no  small 
measure  has  the  very  rapid  growth  of 
this  enterprise  been  due  to  Mr.  Muench's 
tireless  industry  and  energy.  His  train- 
ing qualified  him  for  carrying  on  a  large 
business  enterprise,  and  his  close  applica- 
tion to  the  business  of  his  company  has' 
given  him  remarkable  success.  The  in- 
dustry which  he  has  built  up  is  of  great 
value  in  itself  and  of  relative  importance 


in  the  industrial  development  and  per- 
manent prosperity  of  Pittsburgh.  A  man 
of  singularly  strong  personality,  he  has 
exerted  a  wonderful  influence  on  his  asso- 
ciates and  subordinates,  and  toward  the 
latter  in  particular  his  conduct  has  ever 
been  marked  by  a  degree  of  kindness  and 
consideration  which  has  won  for  him  their 
loyal  support  and  hearty  cooperation. 
Force  and  resolution,  combined  with  a 
genial  disposition,  are  depicted  in  his 
countenance,  and  his  simple,  dignified 
and  affable  manners  attract  all  who  are 
brought  into  contact  with  him.  He  is  one 
of  those  men  who  number  friends  in  all 
classes  of  society. 

Mr.  Muench  is  vice-president  of  the 
Business  Federation  of  America,  Incor- 
porated, an  association  the  aim  of  which 
is  nation-wide  cooperation  among  busi- 
ness men  towards  the  bringing  about  of 
business  conditions  that  will  redound  to 
the  good  of  all.  In  politics  he  is  a  Re- 
publican. His  views  on  religion  are  lib- 
eral and  he  attends  any  church  where  he 
has  an  opportunity  of  listening  to  good 
sermons  or  lectures.  Of  social  nature, 
Mr.  Muench  is  a  member  of  the  Ben  Avon 
Country  Club.  A  man  of  action,  he 
demonstrates  his  public  spirit  by  actual 
achievements  which  advance  the  pros- 
perity and  wealth  of  the  community. 

On  September  4,  1888,  Mr.  Muench 
married  Marie  T.,  daughter  of  Charles 
and  Anna  (Fernow)  Schober,  of  Chicago. 
Illinois.  Mr.  Schober  was  head  of  the 
largest  lithographic  concern  in  Chicago. 
and  a  well-known  business  man  of  that 
city.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Muench  are  the  par- 
ents of  the  following  children:  I.  Clara 
Louise,  wife  of  Peter  G.  Schmidt.  Mr. 
Schmidt  is  president  of  the  Northwest- 
ern Fruit  Products  Company,  of  Olym- 
pia,  Washington.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schmidt 
have  children  as  follows :  Clara  Louise, 
Marie  Johanna,   and   Margaret.     2.  Lily 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


A.,  wife  of  Robert  A.  Manegold,  of  Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin,  president  of  the 
Dings  Magnetic  Separator  Company; 
they  are  the  parents  of  the  following 
children:  Robert  Louis,  born  April,  1916; 
and  Marie  Louise,  born  August  30,  1917. 
3.  Alice  M.,  graduate  of  the  Institute  of 
Musical  Art  of  New  York.  4.  Marie  C. 
5.  Emma. 

Louis  Muench's  career  may  be  summed 
up  in  one  word — success — the  result  of 
his  own  unaided  efforts.  Throughout  his 
career  he  has  been  animated  by  scrupu- 
lous honesty,  fairness  and  the  spirit  of 
progress,  ever  pressing  forward  and  seek- 
ing to  make  the  good  better  and  the  bet- 
ter best.  Lie  has  furnished  a  true  pic- 
ture of  the  ideal  manufacturer,  one  who 
creates  and  adds  to  the  wealth  of  nations 
while  advancing  his  own  interests. 


HARDTMAYER,  Hansr  R., 

Consulting  Physician  and  Surgeon. 

The  older  generation  of  Pittsburgh 
physicians  has  no  abler  or  more  honored 
representative  than  Dr.  Hansr  R.  Hardt- 
mayer, who  can  now  look  back  on  nearly 
forty  years  of  continuous  practice  in  the 
Iron  City.  Dr.  Hardtmayer  has  had  un- 
usual experience  in  hospital  work  and  is 
one  of  the  members  of  the  profession  most 
frequently  consulted  in  difficult  cases. 

(I)  Frank  Hardtmayer,  grandfather  of 
Hansr  R.  Hardtmayer,  was  a  physician 
of  Zurich,  Switzerland. 

(II)  Dr.  Francis  Hardtmayer,  son  of 
Frank  Hardtmayer,  was  born  November 
7,   1824,  in  Zurich,  Switzerland,  and  in 

1847  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Wurzburg,  Germany.  Later  he  became 
involved  in  the  troubles  which,  toward  the 
middle  of  the  century,  agitated  the  empire 
and  all  Europe,  in  consequence  of  the  po- 
litical  upheaval   of  that   period,   and   in 

1848  he    sought    refuge,    as    did    many 


others,  in  the  United  States.  Making  his 
home  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  he 
opened  an  office  on  the  North  Side  (then 
Allegheny),  and  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life  was  actively  engaged  in  general 
practice.  At  the  time  of  the  Civil  War, 
Dr.  Hardtmayer  organized  Company  B, 
Ninth  Regiment  Pennsylvania  Reserves, 
and  became  its  captain,  serving  for  one 
year  and  participating  in  the  battles  that 
this  organization  engaged  in,  and  was 
honorably  discharged  at  Harrison's  Land- 
ing on  account  of  a  wound  and  general 
disability.  Dr.  Hardtmayer  married  Han- 
nah, born  in  Cambria  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, daughter  of  Henry  and  Maria 
Mucker,  the  former  a  native  of  Saxony, 
Germany.  They  were  the  parents  of 
eight  children,  three  sons  and  five  daugh- 
ters, all  of  whom  are  deceased  except 
three:  Mrs.  Sophia  Stumberg,  of  St. 
Louis,  Missouri ;  Alfred,  of  Omaha,  Ne- 
braska, and  Dr.  Hansr  R.,  of  whom  fur- 
ther. Dr.  Hardtmayer  passed  away 
December  23,  1879.  He  was  an  able  phy- 
sician, and  a  brave,  devoted  citizen  to  his 
adopted  country. 

(Ill)  Dr.  Hansr  R.  Hardtmayer,  son 
of  Francis  and  Hannah  (Mucker)  Hardt- 
mayer, was  born  November  17,  1856,  in 
Allegheny,  now  North  Side,  Pittsburgh, 
and  received  his  primary  education  in  the 
public  schools,  afterward  attending  the 
Episcopal  Classical  Academy  of  Pitts- 
burgh. Having  decided  to  adopt  as  his 
own  the  profession  of  his  father  and 
grandfather,  he  entered  Jefferson  Medi- 
cal College,  Philadelphia,  graduating  in 
1877  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medi- 
cine. The  same  year  the  young  physician 
entered  upon  a  career  of  general  practice 
in  Allegheny,  now  North  Side,  and  has 
since  continued  to  devote  himself  to  the 
duties  involved  in  the  possession  of  a 
large  and  constantly  increasing  clientele. 
The  year  of  his  graduation,  Dr.  Hardt- 


133 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


mayer  was  elected  a  member  of  the  staff 
of  the  Mercy  Hospital,  and  served  until 
1890.  In  that  year,  owing  to  pressure  of 
private  practice,  he  resigned,  at  the  same 
time  withdrawing  from  several  other  hos- 
pitals where  his  services  had  for  many 
years  been  highly  valued.  For  the  last 
twenty-five  years  he  has  been  surgeon  for 
the  Pittsburgh  and  Eastern  and  the  Bal- 
timore &  Ohio  railroads  in  Pittsburgh. 
As  a  consulting  physician  and  surgeon, 
Dr.  Hardtmayer  stands  in  the  front  rank, 
being  widely  known  and  frequently 
resorted  to  in  cases  of  an  unusual  and 
complicated  character. 

As  a  citizen,  Dr.  Hardtmayer  habit- 
ually studies  to  promote  the  welfare 
and  progress  of  Pittsburgh,  voting 
with  the  Republicans  for  such  can- 
didates and  ordinances  as  he  deems 
calculated  to  further  that  end.  He 
is  vice-president  and  director  of  the 
Workmen's  Savings  Bank  and  Trust 
Company,  and  a  stockholder  in  several 
industrial  concerns.  His  religious  mem- 
bership is  in  the  German  Evangelican 
church. 

The  countenance  and  bearing  of  Dr. 
Hardtmayer  are  those  of  a  man  of  strong 
character  and  liberal  culture,  progressive 
and  yet  deliberate.  There  is  strength  in 
every  line  and  the  eyes  are  at  once  those 
of  the  student  and  the  man  of  action.  His 
personality  is  that  of  the  typical  physi- 
cian, dignified,  benevolent  and  quietly 
genial  and  he  numbers  many  friends  both 
in  and  out  of  his  profession. 

Dr.  Hardtmayer  married,  March  4, 
1881,  Emma,  daughter  of  the  late  Cap- 
tain James  and  Lucinda  (Morrison) 
Maratta,  of  Beaver  county,  Pennsylvania. 
Captain  Maratta  was  one  of  the  most 
highly  respected  of  the  steamboat  men  of 
a  former  generation.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hardt- 
mayer are  the  parents  of  one  son:  Roy, 
born  November  30,  1881,  educated  in 
Pittsburgh    schools    and   in    schools    of 


Washington,  Pennsylvania,  and  now  con- 
nected with  the  Pittsburgh  Steel  Com- 
pany. Eminently  happy  in  his  domestic 
relations,  Dr.  Hardtmayer  possesses  to 
the  full  that  love  of  home  and  family 
which  is  so  marked  a  characteristic  of  the 
noble  race  from  which  he  sprang. 

For  nearly  sixty  years  the  name  of 
Hardtmayer  has  been  associated  in  Pitts- 
burgh, even  as  it  was  a  century  ago  in 
a  land  beyond  the  sea,  with  excellence  in 
the  medical  profession,  the  prestige 
descending  in  an  unbroken  line  from 
father  to  son.  Dr.  Hardtmayer's  inherited 
talent,  fostered  by  the  more  liberal  cul- 
ture and  greater  opportunities  of  a  later 
time,  has  made  him,  the  third  in  line  of 
physicians,  and  the  most  distinguished 
bearer  of  the  family  name. 


FEE,  Terrence, 

Business  Man. 

Among  the  representative  and  pros- 
perous business  men  of  Potter  county 
must  be  numbered  Terrence  Fee.  He 
was  a  man  who,  by  his  physical  energy 
and  mental  dominence,  made  for  himself 
an  enviable  place  in  the  business  world. 
He  was  born  on  January  14,  i860,  at  Van- 
dalia,  Cattaraugus  county,  New  York, 
and  was  the  son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas 
Fee,  who  were  early  and  substantial  res- 
idents of  that  place.  Terrence  Fee  was 
one  of  twelve  children. 

In  1886,  with  his  brothers,  Richard  E. 
and  Charles  P.,  he  came  to  Potter  county, 
Pennsylvania,  and  engaged  in  the  lum- 
ber business.  This  was  in  the  days  when 
Potter  county  was  noted  throughout  the 
State  for  her  splendid  forests,  and  the 
firm  of  Fee  Brothers  grew  and  prospered. 
Mr.  Fee  was  a  natural  business  man,  was 
himself  industrious  and  was  a  master  in 
directing  men  under  his  employ.  As  a 
citizen  he  ranked  as  a  substantial  man  of 
affairs  whose  word  was  above  question. 


[34 


vvvvrv/^v  •  Vrr 


(^cr/C-r^  3/@J<£aAs>~ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


He  was  considerate  of  others  and  was 
ever  thoughtful  and  kind  to  those  who 
were  dependent  upon  him.  It  is  consid- 
ered remarkable  that  during  his  long 
business  career,  the  firm  of  which  he  was 
the  directing  force  never  found  it  neces- 
sary to  enter  into  legal  litigation,  that 
they  always  dealt  with  their  men  in  such 
a  manner  that  there  was  at  all  times  a 
feeling  of  sincere  friendship  between  em- 
ployers and  employees. 

Terrence  Fee  married  (first)  Carrie 
Edwards,  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Charles  Edwards,  of  Homer  township. 
She  died  leaving  four  young  children : 
Henry,  Beatrice,  Donald  and  Esther.  He 
married  (second),  Mary  F.  McMenomin, 
of  Friendship,  New  York,  and  she  with 
one  daughter,  Terrencia,  survive  him  as 
do  also  the  children  by  the  former  mar- 
riage. Mr.  Fee  was  an  active  member 
of  St.  Eulalia  Church,  and  always  gave 
freely  to  its  support. 

Mr.  Fee  was  a  man  who  was  extremely 
fond  of  his  family  and  his  home.  He  had 
a  beautiful  residence  in  Ladona,  a  suburb 
of  Coudersport,  which  is  the  county  seat 
of  Potter  county,  and  there  he  died  on 
November  15,  1906,  when  just  in  the  prime 
of  a  vigorous  and  useful  manhood.  All 
his  life  he  had  been  a  man  of  unusually 
fine  physical  appearance.  He  had  led  a 
temperate  life,  and  his  untimely  death 
was  a  great  sorrow  to  the  entire  com- 
munity in  which  he  had  so  long  lived.  At 
his  death  he  left  a  comfortable  fortune 
for  his  wife  and  children,  and  his  name 
will  always  be  held  in  tender  memory  by 
friends  and  relatives  who  knew  and  val- 
ued him  at  his  true  worth. 


BLAIR,   John   K., 

Merchant. 

Forty-five  years  ago  the  name  of  John 
K.  Blair  was  conspicuous  in  the  business 


world  of  Pittsburgh  as  that  of  a  member 
of  the  firm  of  Boggs,  Blair  &  Buhl,  a 
concern  which  has  ever  stood  second  to 
none  in  its  own  special  sphere.  Mr. 
Blair,  who  has  been  now  long  deceased, 
was  during  his  too  brief  career  influen- 
tially  identified  with  the  most  essential 
interests  of  his  native  city. 

John  Blair,  father  of  John  K.  Blair, 
was  born  in  1806,  in  Philadelphia,  and 
was  a  member  of  a  family  of  Colonial 
record.  John  Blair  served  an  apprentice- 
ship to  the  trade  of  milling,  which  he  fol- 
lowed for  several  years,  and  then,  urged 
by  a  spirit  of  enterprise,  removed  to 
Pittsburgh.  Later  he  worked  at  his  trade 
for  a  time  in  Perrysville,  and  in  1838  took 
up  his  abode  in  Allegheny  City,  where 
he  engaged,  until  about  three  years  before 
his  death,  in  contracting  and  building. 
He  adhered  to  the  Republican  party,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 
Mr.  Blair  married  Nancy,  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Mary  (Sipley)  Morrow,  of 
Perrysville,  and  their  children  were: 
Thomas,  deceased,  was  treasurer  of 
the  Pittsburgh  &  Fort  Wayne  Rail- 
road; John  K.,  mentioned  below;  Henry 
S. ;  Mary,  deceased,  married  Charles 
Reed;  Fannie,  married  Thomas  Ran- 
dolph ;  Lydia,  married  Cyrus  D.  Rynd ; 
Jane,  wife  of  James  Menold;  Ella,  de- 
ceased, married  Robert  B.  Willison ; 
and  Charles  S.,  deceased.  The  death  of 
Mr.  Blair  occurred  November  10,  1868. 
Both  as  a  business  man  and  citizen  he 
had  the  respect    of  the  entire  community. 

John  K.  Blair,  son  of  John  and  Nancy 
(Morrow)  Blair,  was  born  July  11,  1839, 
in  Allegheny  City,  and  received  his  pre- 
paratory education  in  local  public  schools, 
subsequently  studying  at  Iron  City  Col- 
lege. It  was  in  Allegheny  City  that  he 
entered  upon  the  independent  work  of 
life,  serving  as  a  clerk  in  the  store  of 
A.  M.  Marshall  &  Company.     He  was  a 


135 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


man  born  for  advancement,  and  recogni- 
tion of  his  abilities  was  followed  by  rapid 
promotion,  while  his  devotion  to  duty 
obtained  for  him  well-merited  confidence 
and  esteem. 

It  may  be  readily  understood  that  a 
man  of  Mr.  Blair's  impulse  to  take  the 
initiative  would  early  feel  a  desire  to 
launch  out  for  himself,  and  so  it  was.  He 
was  one  of  the  three  men  who,  in  1868, 
organized  the  firm  of  Boggs,  Blair  & 
Buhl  which,  from  the  outset,  took  high 
rank  in  the  dry  goods  business,  the  fact 
that  it  did  so  being  due  in  very  large 
measure  to  the  wisdom,  foresight  and 
aggressiveness  of  Mr.  Blair.  The  too  few 
years  of  his  connection  with  the  concern 
were  the  years  in  which  the  foundations 
of  the  business  were  laid,  and  on  those 
foundations,  which  were  so  largely  his 
work,  the  firm,  now  Boggs  &  Buhl,  car- 
ries on  a  trade  which  places  it  among  the 
largest  and  most  exclusive  of  Pittsburgh's 
department  stores.  In  politics  Mr.  Blair 
was  a  Republican,  always  strongly  up- 
holding the  principles  of  the  party,  but 
never  for  a  moment  being  numbered 
among  office-seekers.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  United  Presbyterian  church, 
serving  on  the  board  of  trustees  and  tak- 
ing an  active  part  in  the  work  of  the 
Sunday  school. 

Perhaps  the  most  noticeable  feature  of 
Mr.  Blair's  personality  was  its  many- 
sidedness.  With  his  diligence  in  business 
and  devotion  to  civic  duties  and  religious 
work,  he  combined  a  keen  enjoyment  in 
out-door  sports,  being  particularly  fond 
of  driving  and  taking  great  pleasure  in 
fine  horses.  His  social  nature  was  largely 
developed  and  the  number  of  his  friends 
would  defy  computation.  So  many  years 
have  elapsed  since  he  left  us  that  it  may 
not  be  long  before  those  who  can  recall 
his  face  and  manner  will  have  passed 
away,  but  the  pencil  of  the  artist  will 


show  to  those  who  come  after  them  the 
countenance  of  this  man  who,  after  so 
short  a  life,  left  works  which  follow  him. 
Mr.  Blair  married,  October  4,  i860, 
Julia  A.  Fairman,  whose  family  record  is 
appended  to  this  biography,  and  they 
became  the  parents  of  the  following  chil- 
dren: 1.  Julia  Fairman,  born  September 
12,  1861,  died  November  3,  1864.  2. 
Thomas  M.,  born  September  7,  1863,  died 
July  4,  1878.  3.  James  Fairman,  born 
October  19,  1865.    4.  John  C,  born  April 

19,  1867,  died  March  13,  1875.  5.  Reed 
Fairman,  a  biography  of  whom  follows. 
6.  Edwin  Gordon,  born  December  3,  1870, 
died  March  11,  1875.    7.  Dale,  born  April 

20,  1873,  died  in  infancy.  8.  Lida  Rynd, 
born  July  13,  1874,  wife  of  Henry  L. 
Schilpp,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and 
mother  of  two  living  children:  Henry 
Lewis  and  Elizabeth  Blair.  The  mar- 
riage of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blair,  dissolved  by 
death  ere  it  had  quite  completed  its  fif- 
teenth year,  was  an  extremely  happy  one. 
Mrs.  Blair  was  a  woman  of  lovely  per- 
sonality, and  she  and  her  husband  lived 
in  and  for  each  other  and  their  children, 
their  home  being  the  abode  of  domestic 
felicity  and  gracious  hospitality. 

On  September  5,  1875,  Mr.  Blair,  in 
the  prime  of  his  young  manhood,  was 
summoned  to  relinquish  the  activities 
which  he  was  rendering  so  fruitful.  Many 
were  the  mourners  for  what  seemed  the 
premature  termination  of  a  career  so 
abounding  in  fulfilment  and  so  rich  in 
promise  for  the  time  yet  to  come,  but  to 
his  family  and  friends  the  loss  was  irre- 


At  thirty-six  years  of  age  most  men 
have  not  yet  reached  the  zenith  of  their 
course.  At  thirty-six  John  K.  Blair 
passed  away,  having  achieved  in  less  than 
a  score  of  years  results  which  could 
hardly  be  looked  for  in  a  shorter  space 
than  twice  that  period.    In  the  annals  of 


f3<5 


tflxtS     %    (M^A 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Pittsburgh  his  name  stands  as  that  of 
an  honorable  and  successful  merchant 
and  an  active,  public-spirited  citizen.  It 
is  such  men  that  the  city  needs. 

(The  Fairman  Line). 

Thomas  Fairman,  founder  of  the  fam- 
ily in  Pennsylvania,  was  chief  civil  engi- 
neer to  William  Penn,  to  whom  he  ex- 
tended the  hospitality  of  his  home  upon 
his  arrival  in  the  province.  The  tree 
under  which  Penn  made  his  celebrated 
treaty  with  the  Indians  stood  directly  in 
front  of  Mr.  Fairman's  house. 

James  Fairman,  a  lineal  descendant  of 
Thomas  Fairman,  was  born  February  10, 
1808,  in  Pittsburgh,  of  which  city  his 
father  had  become  a  resident  about  1800. 
James  Fairman  conducted  a  harness  shop 
for  many  years,  afterward  engaging  in 
the  furniture  and  undertaking  business. 
Fie  was  a  Republican,  and  a  man  whose 
word  carried  weight.  Mr.  Fairman  mar- 
ried Julia  Keller  and  their  children  were : 
Jane,  died  in  infancy ;  Emeline,  married 
John  R.  Richardson;  Jane  (2),  married 
John  White,  and  is  now  deceased;  Kin- 
ley,  deceased;  Henry,  deceased;  Joseph 
W.,  deceased;  John,  deceased;  Julia 
A.,  mentioned  below ;  Elizabeth,  married 
Henry  Rhoads ;  Edwin  F.,  deceased ; 
Ella  M.,  married  H.  M.  Brandon;  and 
Samuel  Reed. 

Julia  A.  Fairman,  daughter  of  James 
and  Julia  (Keller)  Fairman,  was  born 
June  5,  1841,  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  became  the  wife  of  John  K. 
Blair,  as  stated  above. 


BLAIR,  Reed  Fairman, 

Business  Man. 

The  Pittsburgh  of  to-day  has  no  more 
aggressive  business  man  than  Reed  Fair- 
man  Blair,  head  of  the  firm  of  Reed  F. 
Blair  &  Company,  iron  and  steel  brok- 


ers. Mr.  Blair's  career  has  been  an  ex- 
tremely active  one,  inasmuch  as  he  was 
associated  at  different  times  with  both 
the  Carnegie  interests  and  his  present 
department  of  activity,  having  been  iden- 
tified with  the  latter  for  upward  of  twenty 
years. 

Reed  Fairman  Blair  was  born  October 
10,  1868,  in  Allegheny  City,  and  is  a  son 
of  John  K.  and  Julia  A.  (Fairman)  Blair. 
Reed  Fairman  Blair  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  city  and  after- 
ward studied  telegraphy.  In  this  art  he 
attained  a  degree  of  proficiency  which 
qualified  him,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  to 
become  private  telegraph  operator  for 
Thomas  M.  Carnegie,  then  chairman  of 
Carnegie  Brothers  &  Company,  Limited. 
His  next  position  was  that  of  assistant 
cashier  with  the  same  company,  being 
then  but  nineteen  years  of  age,  after  which 
he  was  employed  in  the  auditing  and  cost 
department.  At  the  end  of  two  years  he 
became  private  secretary  to  William  L. 
Abbott,  chairman  of  Carnegie  Phipps  & 
Company,  Limited.  This  very  responsi- 
ble position  was  retained  by  Mr.  Blair 
for  five  years,  during  which  time  he 
proved  himself  admirably  adapted  to  its 
important  and  exacting  requirements. 

In  1894,  when  the  Carnegie  Steel  Com- 
pany was  organized,  Mr.  Blair  resigned 
his  position  and  engaged  in  the  iron  and 
steel  brokerage  business  under  the  firm 
name  of  Reed  F.  Blair  &  Company.  From 
the  beginning  the  concern  has  been  iden- 
tified with  the  ingot  mold  and  iron  casting 
industry,  and  for  a  number  of  years  has 
looked  after  the  sale  of  almost  ail  the 
ingot  molds  in  the  United  States.  The 
firm  also  represents  the  Black  Lake 
Chrome  and  Asbestos  Company,  the  Do- 
minion Chrome  Company  of  Canada,  and 
the  Brier  Hill  Coke  Company,  as  well  as 
blast  furnaces  turning  out  all  grades  of 
pig  iron  and  all  the  better  known  alloys 

137 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


used  in  steel  manufacture.  The  fact  that 
Mr.  Blair  has  been  for  twenty  years  head 
of  such  a  firm  as  this,  and  that  during 
that  time  its  affiliations  and  transactions 
have  steadily  strengthened  and  enlarged, 
is  amply  sufficient  evidence  of  his  admin- 
istrative and  executive  ability. 

Beyond  the  duty  of  voting  Mr.  Blair 
has  not,  thus  far,  identified  himself  with 
politics,  though  always  taking  an  active 
and  helpful  interest  in  public  affairs  and 
doing  all  in  his  power  to  further  pro- 
gress and  improvement  in  his  own  com- 
munity. He  is  a  director  of  the  Marshall 
Foundry  Company,  for  which  his  firm 
acts  as  sales  agent.  In  the  Masonic 
order  he  has  attained  to  the  thirty-second 
degree,  and  is  a  noble  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine. 

Often  is  it  said  that  a  man  looks  what 
he  is.  Most  emphatically  could  this  be 
said  of  Reed  Fairman  Blair.  Every  line 
in  his  face  denotes  the  administrator  and 
the  executant,  the  man  of  thought  and  of 
action.  The  expression  is  that  of  quiet 
force,  of  a  nature  undemonstrative,  per- 
haps, but  capable  of  sincere  and  strong 
attachments,  of  making  friends  and  also 
of  holding  them. 

Mr.  Blair  married,  April  7,  1891,  Jane 
Brackenridge  Adams,  of  Franklin,  Penn- 
sylvania, daughter  of  Thomas  Daft 
and  Annie  (Gazzam)  Brackenridge,  and 
granddaughter  of  Hugh  Henry  Bracken- 
ridge, and  this  union  with  a  charming 
and  congenial  woman  has  brought  him 
the  happiness  to  be  found  only  under 
such  conditions.  Children:  Raymond 
Adams,  born  January  8,  1892;  John  K., 
born  March  16,  1895;  James  Fairman, 
born  February  6,  1897;  Jane  Bracken- 
ridge, died  in  infancy. 

The  record  of  this  able  and  astute  man 
of  affairs  has  added  to  the  reputation 
which  his  father,  in  his  short  life,  won 
for    the    family    name    in    the    business 


world.  The  son,  to  whom  has  been 
granted  greater  length  of  days,  has 
caused  the  honorable  history  of  the  two 
generations  to   extend  over  a  period  of 

fifty  years. 


REES,   Caradoc, 

'Well-Known  Contractor. 

This  ancient  Welsh  family  name  was 
brought  to  the  Wyoming  Valley  of  Penn- 
sylvania by  Morgan  Rees,  born  in  Gla- 
morganshire, Wales,  who  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1869,  and  settled  at 
Frostburg,  Maryland.  He  was  then  a 
single  man,  and  after  spending  two  years 
in  the  mines  at  Frostburg,  returned  to 
Wales,  and  married  a  daughter  of  that 
land,  Anna  Rees.  With  his  bride  he  came 
again  to  Frostburg,  which  was  his  home 
until  1882,  then  came  his  removal  to 
Jeanesville,  Luzerne  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  four  years  were  spent  in  the 
coal  mines,  followed  by  his  removal  to 
Nanticoke  in  1886.  There  he  continued  a 
coal  miner  until  an  injury  in  the  mines 
compelled  him  to  seek  lighter  employ- 
ment. This  he  found  in  the  grocery  bus- 
iness, and  until  his  death  in  September, 
1915,  he  was  the  proprietor  of  a  store  in 
Nanticoke. 

This  hardy  Welsh  pioneer  was  a  man 
of  strong  character  and  upright  life,  a 
deacon  of  Bethel  Congregational  Church 
in  Nanticoke,  and  for  many  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  trustees.  In  Frost- 
burg he  became  a  charter  member  of  the 
local  Knights  of  Pythias.  He  was  a  man 
of  industry  and  devoted  to  his  family, 
taking  little  part  in  borough  life  outside 
his  church.  Morgan  and  Anna  Rees 
were  the  parents  of  John,  James,  Eliza- 
beth, Idris,  Caradoc,  of  further  mention, 
and  William  Rees. 

Caradoc  Rees,  son  of  Morgan  and 
Anna  Rees,  was  born  at  Frostburg,  Mary- 


138 


^*>^^7^s^>k^<£^z 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


land,  February  27,  1879,  but  when  three 
years  of  age  was  brought  to  Jeanesville, 
Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  four 
years  later  to  Nanticoke,  Pennsylvania, 
where  his  life  has  since  been  spent.  He 
attended  the  public  school  of  both  towns, 
and  began  his  wage-earning  activities  as 
a  newsboy  for  the  "Nanticoke  News." 
He  began  mine  work  as  a  door  tender, 
and  from  that  most  lowly  but  important 
duty  advanced  through  the  various  de- 
grees of  mine  promotion  until  he  was 
rated  a  capable  miner  and  given  an 
assignment.  He  continued  a  miner  until 
1907,  then  entered  the  employ  of  the  E. 
H.  Post  Construction  Company  as  fore- 
man, but  a  year  later  returned  to  mining, 
and  was  continuously  engaged  in  that 
business  until  1909.  He  then  became  a 
contractor  under  his  own  name,  and  has 
since  been  engaged  in  the  construction  of 
roads,  streets,  sewers  and  strippings,  in 
fact  general  contracting  of  a  similar 
nature.  Since  beginning  business  eleven 
years  ago,  in  1907,  Mr.  Rees  has  built  all 
the  roads  in  Newport  township,  and 
practically  all  streets  and  sewers  in 
Nanticoke.  He  is  remarkable  for  his 
energy  and  industry,  no  contract  com- 
mitted to  him  ever  failing  of  comple- 
tion at  or  before  the  specified  time.  He 
values  his  reputation  as  an  honorable, 
reliable  contractor,  and  although  a  young 
man  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the 
street  paving  and  sewer  contractors  of 
the  Wyoming  Valley.  He  is  a  director  of 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Nanticoke, 
owns  a  quarter  interest  in  the  famous 
Tilberry  Farm,  is  an  ex-president  of  the 
local  union,  No.  838,  of  the  United  Mine 
Workers  of  America,  is  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  the  Benevolent  and 
Protective  Order  of  Elks,  and  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  is 
very  popular  with  his  fellow-men  and 
has   a   wealth   of   friends.      Mr.    Rees    is 


prominent  in  the  local  affairs  of  the  Re- 
publican party  in  Nanticoke  and  Luzerne 
county  in  general ;  has  often  been  sought 
for  office,  but  never  accepted. 

Mr.  Rees  married,  April  15,  1903,  Olwen 
Howells,  born  August  30,  1878,  daughter 
of  David  and  Jane  (Jones)  Howells,  of 
Welsh  descent.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rees  are 
the  parents  of  Jane,  born  July  17,  1905; 
Caradoc  (2),  February  9,  1907;  Ann,  Au- 
gust 29,  1914;   Ralph,  August  8,  1917. 


RICKETSON,  John  Howland, 

Attorney,  Business  Man. 

Much  as  there  is  of  striking  and  excep- 
tional interest  in  the  narrative  of  the  life 
of  the  late  John  Howland  Ricketson,  of 
Pittsburgh,  the  feature  which,  perhaps, 
impresses  most  strongly  both  the  biog- 
rapher and  the  reader  is  the  fact  of  what 
may  be  styled  his  dual  personality.  In 
early  manhood  he  was  a  successful  law- 
yer, and  during  the  many  years  of  his 
maturer  life  a  distinguished  representative 
of  the  business  interests  of  his  home  city. 
With  the  distinctive  qualities  of  attor- 
ney and  executant,  Mr.  Ricketson  com- 
bined the  attributes  of  a  man  of  race,  a 
descendant  of  an  ancient  and  honorable 
ancestry. 

The  Ricketson  family  is  one  of  the  old- 
est in  New  England  and  has  formed  ma- 
trimonial alliances  with  the  Slocums, 
Russells  and  Howlands,  all  of  whom  are 
numbered  among  the  armigerous  families 
of  the  United  States. 

John  Howland  Ricketson  was  born  in 
New  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  and  was  a 
son  of  Benjamin  Tucker  and  Elizabeth 
Cowdrey  (Warnick)  Ricketson.  The  boy 
received  his  earliest  education  at  the 
Friends'  Academy  in  his  native  city,  sub- 
sequently attending  Mr.  Pierce's  school  at 
West  Newton,  Massachusetts.  Next  he 
entered  Harvard  University,  graduating 


C39 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


in  1859  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts.  His  room-mates  at  the  university 
were  William  Everett,  son  of  Edward 
Everett,  and  James  Shouler,  the  historian. 

Having  chosen  as  his  life-work  (so  he 
thought)  the  profession  of  the  law,  Mr. 
Ricketson  pursued  his  studies  in  the  office 
of  Governor  Clifford,  at  New  Bedford, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  that  city. 
About  1861  he  came  to  Pittsburgh  and 
practised    his    profession    in    association 

with Loomis  and  John  Shiras,  who 

later  became  judge  in  the  Supreme  Court. 
There  were  not  wanting  those  who  pre- 
dicted for  Mr.  Ricketson  a  career  having 
its  culmination  on  the  bench,  for  every- 
thing seemed  to  indicate  that  his  chosen 
profession  would  bestow  on  him  some  of 
its  greatest  honors.  The  future,  however, 
had  other  things  in  store  for  him.  After 
about  two  years'  constantly  increasing 
practice  and  augmenting  reputation,  his 
plan  of  life  was  changed,  not  by  any  dis- 
aster or  misfortune,  but  as  the  result  of 
an  exceptionally  happy  marriage.  His 
father-in-law,  Abraham  Garrison,  head  of 
the  famous  old  house  of  A.  Garrison  & 
Company,  had  no  son  to  assist  and  even- 
tually to  succeed  him  in  the  business  and 
it  was  his  wish  that  his  son-in-law  should 
act  as  his  co-adjutor.  His  experienced 
eye  had,  no  doubt,  discerned  Mr.  Ricket- 
son's  yet  undeveloped  talents  for  busi- 
ness, and  it  is  possible  that  the  young 
man  himself  was  conscious  of  powers 
which  had  never,  so  far,  been  called  into 
action.  Be  that  as  it  may,  he  abandoned 
the  law,  turning  his  back  upon  the  bril- 
liant prospects  which  seemed  to  await 
him,  and  associated  himself  with  the  great 
concern  which  had  then  nearly  completed 
its  first  quarter  of  a  century. 

The  firm  of  A.  Garrison  &  Company, 
owners  of  the  historic  old  Pittsburgh 
foundry,  had  already  led  the  way  in 
aggressive   pioneer  work,   rendering   the 


United  States  independent  in  the  matter 
of  the  chilled  roll  industry  by  bringing 
domestic  manufacturers  to  the  level  of 
those  of  foreign  lands.  After  Mr.  Ricket- 
son became  connected  with  the  business 
in  the  capacity  of  vice-president,  its  foun- 
dations were  strengthened  and  its  scope 
enlarged  by  the  impetus  imparted  to  it 
by  his  vitalizing  energy  and  by  the  wis- 
dom and  perspicacity  of  his  methods.  To 
the  amazement  of  those  who  believed  that 
his  talents  lay  exclusively  in  the  line  of 
the  bench  and  bar,  John  Howland  Ricket- 
son, ere  many  years  had  elapsed,  occu- 
pied an  undisputed  place  among  the  most 
influential  leaders  of  the  industrial  world 
of  the  Metropolis.  In  1894,  upon  the 
death  of  his  father-in-law,  he  became 
president  of  the  company. 

Public  spirit  was  always  a  dominant 
trait  in  the  character  of  Mr.  Ricketson 
and  this,  in  conjunction  with  his  admin- 
istrative ability,  was  the  cause  of  his 
being  frequently  urged  to  become  a  can- 
didate for  office.  This  he  steadily  refused 
to  do,  but  in  every  movement  having  for 
its  object  the  advancement  of  the  best 
interests  of  his  home  city  he  was  a  leader, 
and  the  notable  talent  as  a  public  speaker 
which  had  been  part  of  his  equipment  for 
success  as  a  member  of  the  bar  was  often 
called  into  requisition  when  the  Metropo- 
lis was  visited  by  personages  of  import- 
ance. In  welcoming  and  entertaining 
these  guests  it  was  usually  Mr.  Ricket- 
son who  acted  as  speaker  in  representing 
the  city.  The  most  memorable  of  these 
occasions  occurred  in  1872,  when  Pitts- 
burgh was  visited  by  President  Grant  and 
a  number  of  government  officials. 

The  Bank  of  Pittsburgh  numbered  Mr. 
Ricketson  among  its  directors,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce.  In  the  founding  of  the 
Duquesne  Club  he  was  one  of  the  prime 
movers,  becoming  its  first  president,  and 
140 


/S^ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


he  was  also  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Harvard  Club  of  Pittsburgh,  filling  the 
office  of  president  to  the  close  of  his  life. 
In  the  University  Club  of  Pittsburgh  and 
the  University  Club  of  New  York  he  was 
also  enrolled.  Mr.  Ricketson  was  reared 
in  the  Unitarian  belief,  and  was  the 
founder  of  the  first  Unitarian  church  in 
Pittsburgh.  The  membership,  however, 
did  not  increase  very  rapidly  and  it  was 
Mr.  Ricketson's  custom  to  attend  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  church  with  his 
wife. 

The  personality  of  Mr.  Ricketson  as  a 
man  of  action  is  presented  more  force- 
fully in  the  record  of  his  activities  than 
it  could  be  in  any  description  in  words. 
There  was,  however,  another  side  of  his 
character  which  was  not  so  conspicuous 
or  so  well  understood  by  the  general  pub- 
lic as  the  one  to  which  we  have  alluded. 
It  was  that  of  the  scholar  and  the  man 
of  culture.  His  naturally  superior  mind 
had  been  enlarged  by  a  liberal  education 
and  enriched  by  the  cultivation  of  refined 
tastes  and  broad  sympathies  in  literature 
and  the  arts.  With  those  endearing  per- 
sonal qualities  which  win  and  hold  friends 
he  was  richly  endowed,  and  in  face  and 
manner  he  was  unmistakably  the  man  of 
ancient  lineage  and  noble  traditions. 

Mr.  Ricketson  married,  May  8,  1862, 
Clementine,  daughter  of  Abraham  and 
Mary  (Clement)  Garrison,  and  they 
became  the  parents  of  two  sons  and  two 
daughters :  Oliver  G.,  married  Retta, 
daughter  of  the  late  Thomas  Carnegie ; 
John  Howland,  married  Anna,  daughter 
of  the  late  C.  C.  Scaife ;  Sarah  G. ;  and 
Mary  R.,  wife  of  Colonel  Herbert  J.  Slo- 
cum,  United  States  Army.  By  his  union 
with  a  woman  of  fine  mind  and  rare  per- 
sonal charm,  Mr.  Ricketson  secured  for 
himself  nearly  forty  years  of  the  happi- 
ness possible  only  in  such  companion- 
ship.     His    family    relations    were    ideal, 


and  of  his  gifts  as  a  host  only  those  privi- 
leged to  enjoy  his  hospitality  can  ade- 
quately speak.  In  addition  to  their  town 
residence  the  family  possessed  a  summer 
home  on  Ricketson's  Point,  Massachu- 
hetts,  the  place  having  been  named  in 
honor  of  the  immigrant  ancestors  who 
were  the  first  of  the  white  race  to  settle 
in  that  region. 

It  was  at  Nonquit,  this  summer  home, 
that  Mr.  Ricketson  passed  away  on  July 
20,  1900,  having  accomplished  more  than 
is  usually  achieved  even  in  the  space  of 
three  score  and  ten  years  to  the  limit  of 
which  he  did  not  fully  attain.  As  man  of 
affairs,  citizen  and  friend  he  was  mourned 
even  as  he  deserved. 

Among  the  many  tributes  offered  to 
Mr.  Ricketson's  character  and  work  was 
one  from  his  fellow-directors  of  the  Bank 
of  Pittsburgh  which  concluded  with  these 
words :  "In  a  rare  degree  he  personified 
the  graces  of  a  thorough  gentleman 
'without  fear  and  without  reproach.' " 

To  the  last  words  of  this  sentence  noth- 
ing can  be  added,  because  the  phrase 
applied  to  the  "very  perfect  noble  knight" 
furnishes  the  most  life-like  description 
o,f  John  Howland  Ricketson,  true  type  of 
the  ideal  American  gentleman. 


TAYLOR,  Roland  Leslie, 
Financier. 

Prominent  among  the  younger  genera- 
tion of  business  men  who  are  infusing 
into  Philadelphia  the  element  of  vigor  and 
enthusiasm  is  Roland  L.  Taylor,  member 
of  the  well-known  banking  firm  of  Wil- 
liam A.  Read  &  Company. 

Roland  Leslie  Taylor  was  born  in  Phil- 
adelphia, Pennsylvania,  July  3,  1868,  son 
of  I.  J.  and  Elizabeth  Ann  (Alkins)  Tay- 
lor. He  received  his  education  in  the 
schools  of  his  city,  finishing  with  the  class 
of  1888  of  the  Philadelphia  High  School. 


1-1' 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


He  then  spent  five  years  with  a  large 
banking  and  brokerage  house,  gaining  a 
thorough  foundation  in  securities  and 
financial  customs.  In  1891  Mr.  Taylor 
went  into  the  trust  department  of  the 
Real  Estate  Trust  Company,  was  elected 
assistant  secretary,  February  7,  1901 ; 
was  elected  vice-president  of  The  Phila- 
delphia Trust,  Safe  Deposit  and  Insur- 
ance Company,  June  13,  1906,  which  he 
held  until  elected  president,  June  12,  1910, 
which  latter  office  he  held  until  he  retired, 
December,  191 1.  In  the  spring  of  1912 
Mr.  Taylor  entered  the  banking  house  of 
William  A.  Read  &  Company,  with  offices 
in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  Bos- 
ton, and  London,  England.  His  thorough 
business  qualifications  have  always  been 
in  demand  on  directorates  of  different 
organizations,  and  he  has  accepted  of 
many  such  trusts.  He  is  a  director  and 
chairman  of  the  finance  committee  of 
Young,  Smyth,  Field  Company;  director 
of  Edward  G.  Budd  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, S.  S.  White  Dental  Manufacturing 
Company,  American  Manganese  Manu- 
facturing Company,  Independence  Insur- 
ance Company,  and  Pennsylvania  Fire  In- 
surance Company.  He  is  one  of  the 
governors  of  the  Philadelphia  Stock 
Exchange.  It  was  through  Mr.  Taylor's 
active  and  persistent  work  that  the  sale 
and  recapitalization  of  the  Baldwin  Loco- 
motive Works  was  effected  after  the 
death  of  John  H.  Converse,  in  191 1,  and 
just  four  years  later  he  engineered  the 
purchase  of  the  Midvale  Steel  Works 
which  had  previously  refused  all  war 
work.  By  this  deal  the  plant  was  imme- 
diately put  to  work  for  the  "Allies"  and 
so  expanded  that  it  was  able  to  take  its 
place  as  one  of  the  largest  and  most  effi- 
cient producers  of  materials  needed  by 
our  Government  upon  entry  of  this  coun- 
try into  the  World  War. 

Mr.   Taylor  served  eleven  years  with 


the  Pennsylvania  State  Naval  Militia,  first 
as  a  seaman,  then  through  the  successive 
grades  of  petty  officers  and  warrant  offi- 
cers and  for  the  later  years  as  a  lieuten- 
ant, senior  grade.  In  politics  he  is  a  Re- 
publican, but  has  never  held  office,  and 
has  always  been  independent  in  local 
elections.  He  is  an  Episcopalian  in  relig- 
ion, and  a  member  of  some  of  the  boards 
of  its  institutions.  His  clubs  are  the  Rac- 
quet, Germantown  Cricket.  Huntingdon 
Valley  Country  and  City  Club  of  Phila- 
delphia. 

On  January  27,  1897,  Mr.  Taylor  mar- 
ried Anita  May,  daughter  of  John  and 
Frances  Morris  (Janney)  Steinmetz,  of 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  and  they  have 
had  children:  Anita  Marjory,  Elizabeth 
Ann,  and  Roland  Leslie,  Jr. 


WOLF,  Augustus  F., 

Coal  Operator. 

The  story  of  the  life  of  Augustus  F. 
Wolf,  of  Wilkes-Barre.  Pennsylvania,  is 
one  of  deep  interest,  and  in  its  telling  a 
man  of  extraordinary  strength  of  char- 
acter and  purpose  is  revealed.  While  now 
president  of  Wolf  Colleries  Company,  In- 
corporated, his  coal  operations  began  at 
comparatively  a  recent  date  (1907)  his 
years  prior  to  that  year  having  been  given 
to  the  service  of  others,  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  physical  department 
being  the  medium  through  which  he  led 
young  men  to  a  better  physical  manner 
of  living.  His  connection  with  the 
Wilkes-Barre  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation did  not  begin  until  1893,  then 
was  soon  broken  not  to  be  again  revived 
until  1907,  when  he  returned,  but  in  a 
different  role,  one  in  which  he  has  won 
a  success  equal  to  that  attained  as  a  phy- 
sical director.  He  is  a  native  son  of  New 
York  State,  but  as  an  adopted  son  Penn- 
sylvania knows  no  more  loyal  citizen. 


142 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Augustus  F.  Wolf,  son  of  John  Erd- 
man  and  Mary  (Bilger)  Wolf,  was  born 
in  Rochester,  New  York,  February  14, 
1868.  He  was  educated  in  common  schools, 
in  a  private  seminary  in  Rochester, 
in  Springfield  (Massachusetts)  Training 
School,  and  also  pursued  a  Chautauqua 
Collegiate  course ;  his  special  preparation 
was  in  physical  culture.  In  this  line  of 
work  he  became  so  deeply  interested  that 
when  his  own  training  was  finished  he 
accepted  an  offer  from  the  Newburg  (New 
York)  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, to  become  physical  director  to  that 
institution.  There  he  continued  until 
1893,  when  the  Wilkes-Barre  (Pennsyl- 
vania) Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion secured  his  services  as  physical  direc- 
tor and  retained  them  for  five  years. 
These  two  engagements  firmly  estab- 
lished his  reputation  as  an  instructor  and 
director  of  physical  culture  departments, 
and  other  institutions  sought  to  secure 
his  services.  In  1898  he  accepted  an  offer 
from  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion of  Fall  River,  Massachusetts,  and 
there  continued  as  physical  director  until 
1903,  when  he  was  elected  general  sec- 
retary and  physical  director  of  the  Wil- 
liamsport  (Pennsylvania)  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  That  post  he  most 
satisfactorily  filled  until  1907,  in  which 
year  he  withdrew  from  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  work  and  entered 
the  coal  operating  field  in  the  anthracite 
region,  a  business  in  which  his  success 
has  been  conspicuous. 

He  obtained  a  lease  in  1909  from  the 
Beisel  estate,  near  Lattimer,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  on  that  tract  drove  a  slope 
which  he  has  since  continuously  and  suc- 
cessfully operated.  In  1913  he  leased  a 
four  hundred  acre  tract  of  coal  land  ad- 
joining the  Beisel  lease,  securing  this  sec- 
ond lease  from  the  Cox  Brothers'  estate. 
He  then  incorporated  both  his  properties 


under  the  title,  Wolf  Colleries  Company, 
Incorporated.  Previously  he  had  leased 
two  hundred  acres  of  coal  land  in  Hud- 
son, Pennsylvania,  and  this  he  operates 
under  the  name,  Central  Coal  Company. 
The  combined  output  of  the  Wolf  Coller- 
ies and  the  Central  Coal  Company  is 
about  eight  hundred  tons  of  merchantable 
coal  daily.  The  Central  Coal  Company 
is  his  own  private  property,  and  he  is  the 
principal  owner  of  the  Wolf  Colleries 
Company,  Incorporated,  and  its  president. 
He  has  developed  an  acute  business  mind, 
and  conducts  his  coal  enterprise  with 
rare  skill  and  good  judgment.  He  has 
ever  retained  his  interest  in  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  work,  and 
holds  membership  with  the  Wilkes-Barre 
branch.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Wilkes- 
Barre  Institute,  member  of  the  Wyoming 
Country  Club,  and  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  taking  active  part  in  the  special 
line  of  work  to  which  each  organization 
is  devoted.  In  politics  he  is  a  Republican. 
Mr.  Wolf  married,  August  7,  1895, 
Frances  Melanie  Nicely,  daughter  of  Al- 
phonso  and  Elizabeth  (Search)  Nicely,  of 
Shickshinny,  Luzerne  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania. Mrs.  Wolf  is  a  granddaughter  of 
John  Nicely,  who  married  Polly  Stuckey, 
and  they  came  from  Northampton  county 
and  settled  in  Mocanaqua,  Pennsylvania. 
John  Nicely  died  on  what  was  known  as 
the  "Nicely  farm"  in  Conyngham  town- 
ship, Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania.  His 
son,  Alphonso  Nicely,  was  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Shickshinny,  Luzerne 
county,  and  was  engaged  in  the  grocery 
business,  also  in  the  quarrying  of  stone, 
owning  quarries  and  being  prominent  in 
borough  affairs,  having  served  as  school 
director,  poor  director  and  councilman  of 
the  borough.  He  married  Elizabeth 
Search,  of  a  pioneer  Luzerne  county 
family,  coming  originally  from  Scotland, 
the   founders,    William   Search   and   son 


143 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


James.  William  Search  was  a  private  in 
a  company  of  minute-men  serving  from 
Morris  county,  New  Jersey,  while  his  son, 
James  Search,  was  a  member  of  Captain 
Daniel  Bray's  company,  Second  Regi- 
ment, Hunterdon  county  militia,  and  also 
served  as  a  private  in  the  New  Jersey 
Continental  lines  during  the  Revolution, 
fighting  with  New  Jersey  troops  at  the 
battle  of  Monmouth. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wolf  are  the  parents  of 
a  son  and  three  daughters :  i.  John  Fred- 
erick, born  August  24,  1896;  educated  in 
Harry  Hillman  Academy  at  Wilkes- 
Barre,  the  Lawrenceville  (New  Jersey) 
School,  and  the  Tome  School  of  Port  De- 
posit, Maryland;  enlisted,  June  15,  1917, 
at  New  Haven,  with  the  American  Am- 
bulance Field  Service  with  the  French 
army,  served  six  months  at  the  front  with 
the  Ambulance,  Section  8,  after  which  he 
graduated  from  L'Ecole  de  Militaire  de 
Artillerie  at  Fontainebleau,  and  is  now 
a  lieutenant  in  the  507th  Regiment,  79th 
Battalion,  355th  Companie,  Par  les  Aydes 
Loriet.  2.  Ellen  Elizabeth,  a  graduate  of 
Wilkes-Barre  Institute  and  Sweet  Briar 
College,  Sweet  Briar,  Virginia.  3.  Ruth 
Frances,  educated  in  Wilkes-Barre  Insti- 
tute, and  the  Misses  Low  and  Haywood 
School  of  Stamford,  Connecticut.  4. 
Louise  Search,  now  a  student  at  Wilkes- 
Barre  Institute. 


DeGOLIER,  Albert, 

Representative  Citizen. 

In  the  wilds  and  among  the  pioneers  of 
the  Northern  Tier  region  of  Pennsylvania, 
on  June  4,  1831,  Albert  DeGolier  was 
born.  His  birthplace  was  at  Lafayette 
Corners,  in  the  county  of  McKean. 
The  hamlet  had  become  widely  known, 
because  here  the  East  and  West  Road, 
the  great  highway  projected  by  Act  of 
Assembly  to  extend  from  the  eastern  to 


the  western  boundary  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  crossed  by  a  trail  from  Chinckle- 
clamoose  (Clearfield)  to  Fort  Niagara 
(Buffalo).  The  boy's  father,  Abel  De- 
Golier, who  was  a  minister,  skilled,  too, 
in  the  trade  of  a  carpenter  and  joiner, 
with  his  wife,  Elizabeth  (Overheiser)  De- 
Golier (who  died  in  1893  at  the  age  of 
ninety-one  years)  and  his  brother,  Nathan, 
had  struck  out  from  their  home  near 
Avoca,  in  the  county  of  Steuben,  State  of 
New  York,  about  two  years  before,  and 
after  brief  visits  to  settlements  along  the 
State  border,  took  up  their  temporary 
abode  at  Smethport,  which  had  then  been 
named  as  the  county  seat  of  McKean. 
Here,  while  Albert  was  in  infancy,  scarce 
two  years  of  age,  his  father  succumbed  to 
the  rigors  of  border  life. 

Meantime,  Nathan  DeGolier,  Albert's 
uncle,  had  been  attracted  to  a  saw-mill 
settlement  in  the  western  part  of  the 
county,  on  the  waters  of  the  Tunungwant 
creek,  and  here,  at  or  near  the  present  vil- 
lage of  DeGolier,  he  erected  and  main- 
tained a  flourishing  grist-mill.  Through 
his  intercession  a  home  was  found  for  the 
boy  and  his  mother  in  the  neighboring 
settlement  of  Corwin  Center  on  Kendall 
creek,  at  the  homestead  of  Warren  Edson. 
There  were  then  but  eight  other  settlers 
in  the  valley:  Philetus  Corwin,  Andrew 
Brown,  Absalom  Hutchinson,  George 
Smith,  John  W.  Whipple,  Orson  Hogle, 
Samuel  Whipple  and  Zach.  Reynolds,  all 
of  whom  lived  in  primitive  fashion,  in  log 
cabins,  with  open  fireplaces,  equipped 
with  cranes  and  pot-hooks.  Edson,  how- 
ever, was  distinguished  among  them  by 
the  fact  that  he  had  built  a  barn.  The 
journey  from  Smethport  was  then  quite 
an  undertaking,  there  being  no  well- 
travelled  road.  But  there  was  a  trail  fol- 
lowing the  course  of  the  present  highway, 
through  Farmers  Valley,  over  Rew  Hill. 
It  was  the  mail  route  from  Jersey  Shore 
144 


^2^/^^u 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


to  Smethport,  Tuna  Valley,  Little  Valley, 
and  thence  to  Belmont.  So  the  infant 
boy,  with  his  mother,  followed  the  trail 
horseback.  Here,  in  Kendall  Creek  val- 
ley, Albert's  childhood  was  spent.  When 
of  sufficient  age,  he  worked  on  the  farm. 
Perchance  in  the  fall  and  spring  he  would 
attend  with  his  elders  the  elections,  which 
were  held  at  the  house  of  L.  S.  Foster, 
and  not  infrequently  go  to  the  post-office, 
just  established,  to  receive  from  William 
Fisher  the  weekly  mail.  In  1838  the 
Pennsylvania  free  school  system  went 
into  effect.  Albert  attended  the  first  pub- 
lic school  in  the  valley,  and  some  years 
later  became  the  teacher  of  the  same 
school. 

Between  the  settlement  on  Kendall 
Creek,  the  mill  village  at  the  mouth  of 
Foster  brook,  and  the  East  Branch  settle- 
ment, around  the  confluence  of  the 
branches  of  the  Tunungwant,  the  United 
States  Land  Company,  succeeded  by 
Daniel  Kingsbury,  planted  a  little  town, 
thereafter  to  be  known  as  Littleville,  Lit- 
tleton, and  later  as  Bradford.  When 
Albert  DeGolier  came  to  Bradford,  it  was 
a  busy  lumber  center.  In  1853  his  mother 
had  died.  His  circumstances,  however, 
were  such  that  he  was  able  to  maintain  a 
home  of  his  own.  On  October  17  of  that 
year,  he  married  a  companion  of  his  child- 
hood, Eleanor  Hutchinson,  daughter  of 
Absalom  Hutchinson,  and  they  resided  at 
Bradford  until  i860,  when,  attracted  by 
the  tide  of  emigration  to  the  rich  prairies 
of  the  West,  and  having  accumulated 
some  means,  he  removed  to  Iowa,  and 
there  for  a  time  conducted  with  good  suc- 
cess a  general  mercantile  business. 

In  1866,  learning  of  the  discovery  of 
petroleum  at  Bradford,  he  disposed  of  his 
business  and  returned.  Here  he  made 
fortunate  investments  in  real  estate, 
chiefly  at  the  present  intersection  of  Main 
and  Kennedy  streets.     At  the  northwest 


corner  of  this  intersection,  he  established, 
and  for  several  years  maintained  a  gen- 
eral store,  dealing  in  dry  goods  and  sup- 
plies. He  also  engaged  with  others  in 
the  production  of  oil.  In  fact,  he  became 
interested  in  the  growth  of  Bradford  in 
various  directions.  He  took  part  in  its 
civic  progress.  Every  well-considered 
measure  for  its  advancement  enlisted  his 
support.  He  had  a  quick  comprehension 
of  the  moral  phase  of  any  mooted  propo- 
sition, and  could  be  counted  to  appear  on 
the  right  side.  In  the  great  causes  of 
temperance,  of  public  education,  and  of 
the  abolition  of  slavery,  he  was  always 
alert,  aggressive  and  influential.  His 
native  ability,  reenforced  by  education 
and  experience,  gained  for  him  a  degree 
of  prominence  in  the  affairs  of  the  city 
which  few  others  enjoyed.  He  spoke  to 
the  point  and  readily,  as  occasion  de- 
manded, and  wrote  with  fluency.  His 
attitude  on  public  questions  was  often 
made  known  through  the  press,  and  thus, 
in  a  large  sense,  he  became  an  accepted 
monitor  for  the  community.  Although 
the  development  of  the  oil  district  brought 
to  Bradford  a  cosmopolitan  population, 
mainly  enterprising,  wide-awake,  ener- 
getic, Albert  DeGolier  held  his  ground  as 
an  influential  factor.  He  was  elected  for 
successive  terms  to  the  office  of  school 
director,  and  served  for  many  years  as  the 
secretary  of  the  board. 

George  F.  Stone,  Esq.,  a  co-director  and 
subsequently  superintendent  of  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  Bradford,  now  a  member  of 
the  bar  and  prominent  citizen  of  Seattle, 
writes  as  follows : 

As  to  my  recollection  of  Albert  DeGolier,  I 
would  say  that  after  the  lapse  of  more  than  thirty 
years,  my  memory  of  him  is  that  of  one  of  the 
most  notable  examples  of  faithful  public  service 
that  I  have  ever  known.  His  position  in  the 
Board  of  School  Directors  for  many  years,  as 
Chairman   of   the    Committee   on    Buildings    and 


145 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Supplies,  carried  the  duty  of  the  oversight  of  the 
expenditure  of  large  sums  of  money,  and  in 
marked  contrast  with  a  too  common  custom,  he 
was  as  careful,  economical  and  painstaking  with 
the  people's  money  as  of  his  own.  His  integrity 
was  above  the  possibility  of  question,  and  no 
scandal  or  accusation  of  graft  ever  attached  to 
an  act  of  his.  Every  contract  was  awarded  on 
its  merits,  and  no  influence  could  move  him  from 
what  he  believed  to  be  right.  He  was  not  a  blind 
follower,  but  had  ideas  of  his  own,  which  he  was 
never  afraid  to  express,  and  convinced  that  he 
was  right,  there  was  no  power  that  could  move 
him  from  his  position;  this  is  my  distinctive 
memory  of  Mr.  DeGolier. 

In  religion,  as  in  politics,  he  was  not 
bound  by  tradition.  Hence  he  was  not 
always  in  harmony  with  the  majority. 
But  in  the  manner  of  his  life  he  was  an 
exemplar  which  the  majority  always 
respected.  In  regard  to  personal  habits 
he  was  absolutely  unassailable.  He  never 
used  profane  language.  He  drank  no 
intoxicating  liquor,  nor  tea  nor  coffee, 
nor  did  he  use  tobacco  in  any  form. 

At  his  death,  which  occurred  at  his 
home  on  January  19,  1908,  he  left  to  sur- 
vive him  his  widow,  since  deceased,  and 
six  children  now  living:  Elizabeth  An- 
toinette, wife  of  S.  E.  Barrett ;  Charles 
Fremont,  a  resident  of  Cambridge,  Ohio ; 
Mary  Ann,  wife  of  W.  H.  Smart,  of  Phil- 
adelphia ;  Spencer  M.,  of  Bradford, 
former  mayor  of  the  city,  elected  by  a 
large  majority  in  spite  of  strong  party 
opposition ;  Margaret  Lillian,  wife  of 
Herbert  A.  Lamprell,  of  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Eleanor  Jane,  wife  of  C.  J. 
Davis,  of  Bradford. 

Important  public  ends  to  which  Albert 
DeGolier  had  been  zealously  devoted 
came  to  fruition  in  his  lifetime.  He  lived 
to  see  the  Bradford  High  School  estab- 
lished, its  chemical  laboratory  become  a 
reality,  its  reference  library,  founded  by 
public  subscription,  expanded  later  into  a 
city  library  free  to  the  people.  He 
enjoyed  opportunities  for  public  service, 


and  to  it  gave  himself  so  generously  that 
there  were  times  when  consequently  his 
private  interests  suffered  to  such  extent 
as  to  cloud,  in  some  measure,  the  happi- 
ness of  his  latter  days.  But  he  left  to  the 
city  an  example  of  the  best  type  of  citi- 
zenship, which  is,  after  all,  the  noblest 
heritage. 


TORRANCE,  Francis, 

Financier,  Philanthropist. 

Some  men  there  are  who  touch  life  at 
so  many  points  that  in  order  to  convey 
an  adequate  conception  of  their  personal- 
ity, it  seems  necessary  to  describe  them 
in  several  characters.  A  man  of  this  type 
•was  the  late  Francis  Torrance,  one  of  the 
strong  men  of  the  Old  Pittsburgh,  whose 
commanding  form,  seen  through  the 
gathering  mists  of  the  fast  receding 
years,  rises  before  us  as  business  man, 
financier  and  philanthropist. 

Francis  Torrance,  father  of  Francis 
Torrance,  was  a  prosperous  farmer  in  the 
North  of  Ireland,  where  he  spent  his 
entire  life  of  eighty-six  years.  He  was 
the  father  of  a  large  family. 

Francis  (2)  Torrance,  son  of  Francis 
(1)  Torrance,  was  born  in  the  town  of 
Letterkenny,  in  1816.  He  made  good  use 
of  superior  educational  advantages,  and 
came  to  America  when  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  He  first  located  in  Pittsburgh, 
where  for  a  short  time  he  was  employed 
as  bookkeeper.  He  afterwards  went  to 
Wellsville,  Ohio,  and  engaged  in  the  gro- 
cery business.  After  a  few  years  of  suc- 
cessful business,  he  returned  to  Ireland 
and  married  Ann  Jane  McClure,  and  then 
went  into  business  in  his  native  town. 
After  seven  years  in  the  Old  Country,  Mr. 
Torrance  came  to  Philadelphia,  where  he 
embarked  in  the  grocery  business.  He 
remained  there  a  few  years  and  then 
located  permanently  in  Pittsburgh.  In 
46 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


1875,  'n  company  with  J.  W.  Arrott  and 
John  Fleming,  Mr.  Torrance  established 
the  Standard  Manufacturing  Company, 
now  the  Standard  Sanitary  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  the  largest  corporation  for 
the  manufacture  of  sanitary  goods  in  the 
world.  Active  in  the  affairs  of  the  com- 
munity, Mr.  Torrance  served  in  the 
Select  Council  of  Allegheny  (now  the 
Northside,  Pittsburgh),  and  was  for  eigh- 
teen years  a  member  of  the  School  Board. 
He  was  a  member  and  trustee  of  the  Bap- 
tist church.  For  twenty-eight  years  he 
was  the  agent  of  the  Schenley  Estate, 
having  charge  of  the  entire  interest  of 
the  estate  in  America,  valued  at  over  $30,- 
000,000  and  his  able  management  of  this 
trust  brought  him  much  praise. 

As  a  citizen  with  exalted  ideas  of  good 
government  and  civic  virtue,  Mr.  Tor- 
rance stood  in  the  front  rank.  In  politics 
he  was  a  Republican.  Ever  ready  to 
respond  to  any  deserving  call  made  upon 
him,  such  was  his  abhorance  of  publicity 
that  the  full  number  of  his  benefactions 
will,  in  all  probability,  never  be  known  to 
the  world.  A  man  of  fine  personal  ap- 
pearance, of  a  nature  so  genial  and  sym- 
pathetic as  to  possess  a  rare  magnetism, 
he  was  a  man  who  drew  men  to  him. 
Personality,  coupled  with  great  ability, 
was,  in  fact,  the  secret  of  his  wonderful 
success,  making  possible  undertakings 
which,  in  the  hands  of  an  ordinary  man, 
would  have  met  with  utter  failure.  His 
countenance  was  indicative  of  great  force 
and  also  of  that  capacity  for  friendship 
which  made  him  the  object  of  the  loyal 
and  devoted  attachment  of  all  who  were 
in  any  way  associated  with  him. 

Mr.  Torrance  was  twice  married.  By 
his  first  wife,  Ann  Jane  (McClure)  Tor- 
rance, he  had  three  children,  one  of  whom 
is  living,  Elizabeth,  residing  in  Ireland. 
By  his  second  wife,  whom  he  married  in 
1857,  and  who  was  Jane  Waddell,  daugh- 


ter of  John  Waddell,  he  had  one  son, 
Francis  J.,  whose  sketch  follows  in  this 
work,  and  one  daughter  who  died  in 
infancy. 

The  death  of  Francis  Torrance,  which 
occurred  March  11,  1886,  deprived  Pitts- 
burgh of  a  man  whose  business  talents 
were  of  the  highest  order  and  whose  will 
was  simply  indomitable.  Full  of  work, 
of  fiery  energy  and  unquenchable  hope, 
he  represented  a  type,  the  value  of  which 
to  a  city  it  is  impossible  to  estimate.  The 
influence  of  such  men  ramifies  all  through 
the  commercial  and  industrial  life,  extend- 
ing itself  to  the  entire  social  economy, 
and  every  man,  from  the  toiling  laborer  to 
the  merchant  prince,  receives  benefit  from 
them. 


TORRANCE,  Francis  J., 

Man  of  Affairs. 

It  would,  perhaps,  be  impossible  to  find 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
Western  Pennsylvania  a  man  who  pos- 
sessed in  larger  measure,  or  in  more  per- 
fect balance,  the  qualifications  necessary 
for  success  in  a  city  like  Pittsburgh,  a  city 
which  is  more  than  a  city,  which  can  be 
described  only  as  an  industrial  cyclone, 
than  does  Francis  J.  Torrance,  first  vice- 
president  and  chairman  of  the  executive 
board  of  the  Standard  Sanitary  Manufac- 
turing Company  of  Pittsburgh  and  its 
subsidiary  companies  of  the  United 
States. 

Francis  J.  Torrance  was  born  June  27, 
1859,  in  Allegheny,  Pennsylvania,  son  of 
Francis  and  Jane  (Waddell)  Torrance. 
He  received  his  elementary  education  in 
the  public  schools  of  his  native  city,  grad- 
uating from  the  Third  Ward  School  in 
1874.  Later  he  took  a  course  at  Newell 
Institute,  finishing  his  education  at  the 
Western  University.  He  entered  his 
business    life    in    1875,    as    clerk    in    the 


147 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


employ  of  the  Standard  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  and  subsequently  be- 
came it  treasurer  and  general  man- 
ager. When  the  Standard  Manufac- 
turing Company  merged  into  the  Stand- 
ard Sanitary  Manufacturing  Company, 
with  nine  other  concerns  in  a  similar  line 
of  business,  Mr.  Torrance  was  elected  a 
director  and  subsequently  made  first  vice- 
president  and  chairman  of  the  executive 
committee.  The  concern  has  a  capital  of 
fifteen  million  dollars,  and  is,  by  far,  the 
largest  producer  of  plumbing  and  sani- 
tary goods  in  the  world.  Its  principal 
factories  are  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennnylvania  ; 
Louisville,  Kentucky ;  New  Brighton, 
Pennsylvania  ;  Kokomo,  Indiana  ;  Tiffin, 
Ohio;  and  Toronto,  Canada.  It  has 
branch  houses,  warehouses  and  offices  in 
every  prominent  city  in  the  United  States, 
and  in  addition  to  this  in  many  foreign 
countries.  Mr.  Torrance's  business  life 
is  centered  in  the  Standard  Company  and 
its  various  interests  and  subsidiaries. 

In  no  way  has  Mr.  Torrance  more  con- 
vincingly proved  his  ability  as  a  com- 
mander of  men  than  in  his  treatment  of 
his  employees.  Never  regarding  them 
merely  as  parts  of  a  great  machine,  he 
recognized  their  individuality,  and  noth- 
ing gives  him  greater  pleasure  than  to 
reward  with  speedy  promotion  their 
worth  and  ability.  Moreover,  he  has  the 
rare  faculty  of  inspiring  them  with  his 
own  enthusiasm,  and  he  receives  from 
them  an  unstinted  measure  of  most  loyal 
service.  Were  this  type  more  common 
we  should  soon  cease  to  hear  of  the  con- 
troversy between  capital  and  labor.  A 
fine-looking,  genial  man  whose  counte- 
nance radiates  an  optimistic  spirit,  Mr. 
Torrance  carries  with  him  the  suggestion 
of  intense  vitality  and  alertness,  and  the 
briefest  talk  with  him  reveals  his  ability, 
the  versatility  of  his  talents  and  his  rare 
gifts  for  managing  large  and  intricate 
business  enterprises. 


A  Republican  in  politics,  Mr.  Torrance 
represented  his  congressional  district  in 
the  Minneapolis  convention  which  nom- 
inated Benjamin  Harrison  for  president, 
and  he  was  a  delegate-at-large  from  Penn- 
sylvania to  the  National  convention  at 
St.  Louis  which  nominated  William  Mc- 
Kinley,  of  whom  he  was  a  warm  personal 
friend.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Repub- 
lican city  committee  of  Allegheny  until 
the  merger  of  the  two  cities — Allegheny 
and  Pittsburgh.  In  1894  Mr.  Torrance 
was  appointed  by  Governor  Hastings 
commissioner  of  public  charities,  and  was 
unanimously  elected  president  of  its  board 
on  February  14,  1902,  which  office  he  still 
holds.  This  board  has  control  of  all  insti- 
tutions in  Pennsylvania  classed  as  crim- 
inal, penal,  correctional  and  charitable. 
Mr.  Torrance  has  been  delegate-at-large 
to  many  of  its  conventions. 

Mr.  Torrance  is  prominently  identified 
with  the  religious  and  social  interests  of 
the  country.  He  is  trustee  of  the  San- 
dusky Street  Baptist  Church ;  trustee  of 
Bucknell  College;  trustee  of  Western 
Pennsylvania  Classical  and  Scientific  In- 
stitute, at  Mt.  Pleasant.  In  club  life  he 
is  connected  with  the  Duquesne,  Pitts- 
burgh Athletic,  Union,  Pittsburgh  Coun- 
try, all  of  Pittsburgh ;  New  York  Club  of 
New  York;  Fulton  Club  of  New  York; 
Pennsylvania  Society  of  New  York,  and 
numerous  others.  He  has  also  been  a 
member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Pittsburgh  for  many  years.  Mr.  Tor- 
rance, now  in  the  prime  of  a  vigorous 
manhood,  looks  in  every  particular  the 
aggressive  business  man  which  the  world 
knows  him  to  be.  His  piercing  eye  and 
deeply  thoughtful  expression  show  strong 
reasoning  powers  and  penetrating  insight 
into  human  nature,  while  his  resolute 
bearing  and  springing  step  are  indicative 
of  firmness  of  purpose  and  promptness 
in  execution. 

Mr.    Torrance    married,    November    6, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


1884,  Alary  Rachel,  daughter  of  David 
and  Lydia  (Griffith)  Dibert,  of  Johns- 
town, Pennsylvania.  Mrs.  Torrance  is 
one  of  those  rare  women  who  combine 
with  perfect  womanliness  and  domestic- 
ity an  unerring  judgment,  traits  of  the 
greatest  value  to  her  husband  to  whom 
she  is  not  alone  a  charming  companion, 
but  a  confidant  and  adviser.  Mrs.  Tor- 
rance is  active  in  social,  religious,  charit- 
able and  club  circles  of  Pittsburgh. 
Their  only  child  is  Jane,  who  became  the 
wife  of  Horace  F.  Baker.  Mr.  Torrance 
is  a  man  of  strong  domestic  affections, 
and  the  Torrance  home  on  the  Northside 
is  the  seat  of  a  gracious  hospitality. 

A  man  of  action,  rather  than  words,  of 
remarkable  business  talents  and  untiring 
energy,  Mr.  Torrance  demonstrates  his 
public  spirit  by  actual  achievements  that 
advance  the  prosperity  and  wealth  of  the 
community.  Whatever  is  undertaken  by 
him  he  gives  to  it  his  whole  soul  and  lets 
none  of  the  many  interests  intrusted  to 
his  care  suffer  for  want  of  close  and  able 
attention  and  industry.  Such  men  are 
indeed  rare,  and  an  honor  to  the  commun- 
ity in  which  they  reside. 


NEALE,  Henry  Marion,  M.  D., 

Authority   on   Tuberculosis. 

Dr.  Henry  Marion  Neale,  of  Upper  Le- 
high, Luzerne  county,  Pennsylvania,  is 
one  of  the  most  prominent  figures  in  his 
profession  in  the  State,  and  is  well  known 
in  medical  circles  throughout  the  coun- 
try. He  is  at  once  extremely  successful 
in  his  practice,  there  being  fevy  physicians 
in  this  region  who  rival  him  in  popular- 
ity and  the  trust  reposed  in  him  by  the 
community,  and  he  is  also  a  writer  of 
authority  on  various  branches  of  medical 
science,  and  a  profound  student  of  the 
entire  subject,  whose  name  is  known  in 
this  connection  as  one  of  the  men  whose 


labors  are  forming  the  growth  of  medical 
history  to-day.  On  the  paternal  side  of 
the  house,  Dr.  Neale  is  of  Irish  descent, 
his  grandfather  having  been  born  in 
County  Antrim,  Ireland.  His  grand- 
father, Jeremiah  Alban  Neale,  who  mar- 
ried Ann  Fuller,  of  Windsor,  Connecti- 
cut, came  to  this  country  in  the  prime  of 
manhood  and  settled  first  in  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  where  he  lived  for  a  number 
of  years.  Dr.  Neale's  father,  Martin  Hub- 
bell  Neale  was  born  in  Southington,  Con- 
necticut, in  1820,  but  shortly  after,  his 
parents  moved  to  New  Haven,  Connecti- 
cut, where  they  made  their  permanent 
home.  The  father  was  connected  with 
railroad  building  in  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try, and  for  a  number  of  years  was  em- 
ployed as  a  construction  master  by  the 
New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford 
Railroad  Company.  He  was  eventually 
injured  in  a  wreck  at  New  London,  Con- 
necticut, and  thereafter  lived  in  retire- 
ment at  Southington  in  that  State. 
Martin  Hubbell  Neale  married,  at  New 
Haven,  Martha  Hitchcock,  a  native  of 
Plymouth,  Connecticut,  and  connected 
with  many  of  the  oldest  and  most  dis- 
tinguished New  England  families. 

Born  July  27,  1858,  at  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  Henry  Marion  Neale  was 
educated  at  the  local  schools  of  Southing- 
ton, whither  his  father  had  gone  to  live 
after  his  accident,  and  afterwards  at 
Lewis  Academy,  and  also  took  special 
courses  under  Professor  F.  A.  Brackett, 
of  Hartford,  Connecticut.  He  had  deter- 
mined to  adopt  medicine  as  his  profes- 
sion at  an  early  age,  and  with  this  end  in 
view  matriculated  at  the  famous  Jefferson 
Medical  College  at  Philadelphia.  After 
the  usual  course,  in  which  he  proved  him- 
self a  capable  and  industrious  student,  he 
was  graduated  from  this  institution  with 
the  class  of  1880  winning  his  degree.  Im- 
mediately after  this  event  he  went  to  the 


149 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Blockley  Hospital  at  Philadelphia,  and 
became  a  member  of  its  staff.  He  re- 
mained for  a  year  as  an  interne  there,  and 
then  received  an  appointment  as  physi- 
cian and  surgeon  on  the  famous  old 
steamer  the  "Indiana,"  a  vessel  of  the 
American  Line  plying  between  Liverpool 
and  Philadelphia.  In  this  position  he 
made  an  excellent  reputation  for  himself 
and  continued  in  his  seafaring  life  for  one 
year.  During  one  of  his  trips  across  the 
Atlantic  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Dr. 
T.  J.  Mays,  of  Upper  Lehigh,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  this  chance  meeting  was  the 
original  cause  of  his  coming  to  this  place. 
The  two  men  formed  a  warm  friendship 
with  one  another,  and  a  little  later  Dr. 
Mays  asked  the  young  man  to  become  his 
assistant  in  caring  for  the  large  practice 
he  had  built  up  in  this  section.  Dr.  Neale 
did  not  find  it  difficult  to  make  up  his 
mind,  but  promptly  closed  with  the  offer, 
and  the  year  1883  saw  him  securely  estab- 
lished at  Upper  Lehigh.  The  following 
year  Dr.  Mays  removed  from  this  place 
to  another  part  of  the  country,  and  Dr. 
Neale  fell  heir  to  his  successful  practice. 
From  that  time  to  the  present  he  has  con- 
tinued very  active  here,  and  in  the  interim 
has  gained  a  reputation  for  ability  and  a 
strict  adherence  to  the  highest  ethics  of 
the  profession  second  to  none.  Besides 
his  purely  private  practice,  Dr.  Neale  has 
formed  many  important  affiliations  with 
the  large  medical  institutions  hereabouts 
and  serves  his  fellows  as  a  physician  in  a 
number  of  capacities.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Pennsylvania 
State  Hospital  at  Hazleton,  a  responsible 
post  that  he  has  held  since  1890,  and  is  at 
the  present  time  vice-president  of  that 
body.  He  is  senior  attending  physician 
to  the  White  Haven  (Pennsylvania)  San- 
itarium for  Consumptives,  and  has  made 
a  profound  study  of  that  dread  disease 
Another  post  held  by  him  is  that  of  com- 


pensation surgeon  to  all  the  mines  in  the 
lower  portion  of  Luzerne  county.  In  the 
year  1912  he  was  honored  by  the  appoint- 
ment by  the  United  States  Government  to 
be  one  of  the  delegates  of  ten  physicians 
sent  by  it  to  the  Seventh  International 
Medical  Congress  held  at  Rome,  Italy,  for 
the  purpose  of  studying  tuberculosis  and 
taking  measures  to  prevent  its  spread. 
Dr.  Neale  is  a  public-spirited  man  and  has 
always  taken  a  keen  interest  in  the  gen- 
eral well-being  of  his  colleagues  in  the 
medical  profession,  so  that  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  he  is  very  active  in  the  work 
of  the  several  medical  societies  in  this 
region.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Luzerne 
County  Medical  Society  and  served  as  its 
president  for  a  number  of  years ;  of  the 
Lehigh  Valley  Medical  Society;  the 
Pennsylvania  State  Medical  Society,  of 
which  he  has  been  vice-president ;  and 
of  the  American  Medical  Association. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  Dr. 
Neale  has  made  a  special  study  of  the 
subject  of  tuberculosis,  a  fact  which  made 
his  selection  as  a  member  of  the  American 
representatives  to  the  European  Congress 
particularly  appropriate,  but  it  remains  to 
be  said  that  he  is  an  important  contribu- 
tor to  the  literature  upon  this  highly  im- 
portant subject.  He  has,  indeed,  contri- 
buted many  articles  to  the  various  medi- 
cal journals  in  the  country  and  abroad, 
and  addressed  many  professional  gather- 
ings upon  this  subject  and  upon  a  num- 
ber of  others  covering  a  wide  range  of 
the  science  of  medicine.  His  conserva- 
tism lends  authority  to  the  progress  in  the 
profession  for  which  he  stands,  and  few 
of  the  statements,  or  even  beliefs,  of  this 
trenchant  observer  are  questioned.  Dr. 
Neale  is  at  the  present  time  serving  his 
country  as  chairman  of  the  Exemption 
Board,  Division  No.  10,  Luzerne  county, 
Pennsylvania.  His  clubs  are  the  Clover 
of    Philadelphia,    the    Westmoreland    of 


150 


^O^^CXtSv^L 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Wilkes-Barre,  Medical  Club,  Philadel- 
phia, and  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science. 

Dr.  Neale  was  united  in  marriage, 
March  5,  1885,  with  Ada  Leisenring,  a 
native  of  Upper  Lehigh,  and  a  daughter 
of  Walter  and  Mary  Ann  Price  (Kem- 
merer)  Leisenring,  old  and  highly  re- 
spected residents  of  this  place.  Three 
children  have  been  born  to  them  as  fol- 
lows :  Mahlon  Kemmerer,  Joseph  Haw- 
ley,  and  Gertrude  Leisenring. 


MARSHALL,  George  V., 

Business  Man,  Civil  War  Veteran. 

The  late  George  V.  Marshall,  for  many 
years  head  of  the  old-established  firm  of 
Marshall  Brothers,  was  one  of  those 
Pittsburghers  identified  with  the  mo- 
mentous period  which  began  with  the 
Civil  War  and  may  be  said  to  have  ended 
with  the  tremendous  era  of  the  present 
World  War.  As  business  man,  soldier 
and  citizen,  Mr.  Marshall's  example  was 
ever  in  accordance  with  the  highest 
standards  of  integrity  and  patriotism. 

George  V.  Marshall  was  born  Novem- 
ber 22,  1845,  m  Pittsburgh,  and  was  a 
son  of  John  and  Ann  (Vardy)  Marshall. 
He  was  a  representative  of  an  English 
family  which,  for  many  generations,  had 
been  owners  of  coal  lands  near  New- 
castle-on-Tyne.  When  he  was  but  three 
years  old  death  deprived  him  of  his 
mother,  and  he  was  adopted  by  his  uncle, 
Joseph  Marshall,  who  saw  that  the  boy 
received  a  good  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  city.  Then  came 
the  Civil  War  with  its  trumpet-call  to  all 
loyal  citizens  and  especially  to  the  youth 
of  those  States  which  had  not  repudiated 
their  allegiance  to  the  Union.  In  Au- 
gust, 1861,  George  V.  Marshall,  who  had 
not  then  completed  his  sixteenth  year, 
enlisted    in    Hampton    Battery    F,    Inde- 


pendent Pennsylvania  Light  Artillery, 
thus  entering  upon  a  course  of  service 
which  ended  only  with  the  surrender  at 
Appomattox.  When  the  army  was  dis- 
banded an  honorable  discharge  marked 
the  close  of  his  gallant  career  as  a  de- 
fender of  the  Union. 

Without  delay  the  young  soldier  re- 
turned to  Pittsburgh  and  associated  him- 
self with  the  firm  of  Marshall  Brothers, 
the  leadership  of  which  was  then  vested 
in  his  uncle,  Joseph  Marshall.  The 
house,  which  was  engaged  in  the  general 
machine  business,  had  been  founded  in 
1818  and  had  already  nearly  completed 
the  first  half-century  of  its  existence. 
George  V.  Marshall  soon  proved  that 
he  had  in  him  the  makings  of  a  business 
man,  as  well  as  those  qualities  essential 
to  a  good  soldier,  and  as  the  years  went 
on  he  became  a  dominant  factor  in  the 
conduct  of  the  notable  concern  with 
which  he  was  identified.  In  the  course  of 
time  he  became  head  of  the  firm,  and  to 
his  far-sighted,  able  management,  which 
combined  in  due  proportion  conservatism 
and  aggressiveness,  the  continued  main- 
tenance and  development  of  the  business 
was  largely  to  be  attributed.  Mr.  Mar- 
shall remained  to  the  close  of  his  life 
head  of  this  old  and  distinguished  firm 
which,  in  the  progress  of  events,  engaged 
in  the  building  of  elevators,  this  branch 
of  industry  gradually  becoming  its  chief 
occupation  and  principal  reliance. 

In  Grand  Army  affairs,  Mr.  Marshall, 
as  long  as  he  lived,  took  the  keenest 
interest,  remaining  an  active  member  of 
the  Union  Veteran  Legion,  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
He  also  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, holding  membership  in  Pitts- 
burgh Commandery,  No.  1,  Knights 
Templar.  Endowed  with  all  the  quali- 
ties which  win  and  hold  friends  he  was 
all    his    life    both    honored    and    beloved. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


His  face  reflected  his  kind,  true  heart  and 
earnest  nature,  and  his  bearing  always 
retained  traces  of  the  military  experience 
of  his  youthful  days. 

Mr.  Marshall  married,  February  5, 
1874,  Emma,  daughter  of  the  late  Caleb 
and  Margaret  W.  (Skelton)  Lee  (a  biog- 
raphy and  portrait  of  the  late  Caleb  Lee 
appears  on  another  page  of  this  work),  and 
they  became  the  parents  of  the  following 
children :  Lee  H. ;  Vardy  M.,  wife  of 
Russell  B.  Armor;  Margaret  M.,  wife 
of  Charles  L.  Hamilton ;  and  Elizabeth 
M.,  wife  of  William  L.  Rowe.  Devotion 
to  wife  and  children  was  the  ruling 
motive  of  Mr.  Marshall's  life,  and  never 
was  he  so  happy  as  at  his  own  fireside 
where  the  presiding  genius  was  a  woman 
who  combined  with  rare  charms  of  mind 
and  manner  the  endowments  of  a  perfect 
home-maker. 

To  this  good  and  brave  man  was 
granted  the  privilege  of  exceeding  the 
traditional  three  score  and  ten  years,  and 
on  May  6,  1918,  he  passed  away,  rich  in 
the  respect  and  affection  of  his  entire 
community.  All  were  sensible  of  a  va- 
cancy in  the  world  of  business  and  of  the 
severance  of  another  of  the  links  which 
connect  the  present  time  with  the  heroic 
age  of  the  Civil  War.  Singularly  well- 
rounded  and  complete  was  his  life.  In 
youth,  serving  his  country  in  the  field, 
and  throughout  the  long  period  of  his 
maturer  years  doing  the  work  of  peace 
and  helping  to  build  up  one  of  our  great 
industries.  He  was  a  true  man  and  has 
left  an  example  which  should  inspire 
those  who  come  after  him. 


BLATCH,  Thomas  G., 

Consulting  Engineer. 

Thomas  G.  Blatch,  who  for  more  than 
forty-five  years  has  practiced  as  a  con- 
sulting  engineer   at    Hazleton,    Pennsyl- 


vania, and  who  is  one  of  the  best  known 
and  most  influential  citizens  of  this  place, 
is  of  English  birth  and  parentage,  al- 
though most  of  his  life  has  been  passed 
in  the  country  of  his  adoption.  His 
career  as  an  engineer  has  been  exceed- 
ingly successful  in  a  community  where 
merit  is  the  key  to  success,  and  he  has 
gained  for  himself  in  an  unusual  degree 
the  esteem  and  respect  of  his  fellow  citi- 
zens by  his  public  spirit  and  his  unsel- 
fish participation  in  the  life  of  the  place. 
Mr.  Blatch  is  a  son  of  James  and  Eliza 
Ann  (Goater)  Blatch,  the  former  a  native 
of  Winterburn,  England,  where  he  was 
born  early  in  the  century  just  passed. 
Most  of  the  life  of  the  elder  Mr.  Blatch 
was  spent  in  the  city  of  Southampton, 
England,  where  he  was  engaged  in  busi- 
ness as  a  wholesale  wine  merchant.  He 
was  very  successful  in  his  business  which 
had  connections  in  many  different  parts 
of  the  world,  and  was  also  prominent  in 
municipal  affairs,  being  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  of  Southampton  and 
chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Hart- 
ley Institute  there.  He  married  Eliza 
Ann  Goater,  and  they  were  the  parents 
of  the  following  children :  James,  Eliza- 
beth, Mary,  Thomas  G.,  with  whom  we 
are  here  concerned;  Annie,  Benjamin, 
Margaret  and  Herbert. 

Born  December  26,  1847,  at  South- 
ampton, England,  Thomas  G.  Blatch 
spent  his  childhood  and  early  youth  in 
his  native  place.  His  early  studies  were 
conducted  under  the  direction  of  a  pri- 
vate tutor  in  mineralogy  and  he  graduated 
under  his  instruction.  He  was  previously 
apprenticed  to  Thomas  Somers,  of  the 
firm  of  Day  &  Somers,  of  Southampton, 
world-wide  known  marine  engineers,  and 
he  there  gained  much  valuable  experi- 
ence and  a  knowledge  of  the  engineering 
profession  which  he  was  afterwards  to 
follow  so  successfully.    In  the  year  1872, 


152 


fffa>7rt(a  fffijafcAJ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


when  he  was  twenty-six  years  of  age,  Mr. 
Blatch  came  to  the  United  States,  and 
for  a  short  time  was  employed  in  various 
engineering  offices  of  New  York  City, 
Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  but  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  same  year  came  to 
Hazleton,  Pennsylvania,  and  settled  per- 
manently here.  He  found  employment 
as  a  draughtsman  in  the  office  of  the  Le- 
high Valley  Railroad  Company  and 
remained  with  that  concern  for  some 
seventeen  years.  During  this  period  Mr. 
Blatch  made  himself  familiar  with  all 
the  engineering  problems  of  the  region, 
and  also  studied  steadily  the  theory  and 
practice  of  this  profession,  so  that  by  the 
time  it  was  completed  he  was  an  expert 
in  his  line.  He  had  for  some  time  con- 
templated the  scheme  of  engaging  in  the 
practice  of  engineering  on  his  own 
account,  and  now,  finding  the  opportunity 
open  to  him,  he  opened  an  office  as  con- 
sulting engineer  in  this  town  and  has 
continued  to  practice  ever  since.  His 
skill  and  energy  rapidly  drew  the  atten- 
tion of  many  large  interests  to  him,  and 
he  became  affiliated  with  a  number  of 
corporations  in  various  capacities.  Mr. 
Blatch  was  one  of  the  promoters  of  the 
New  Hazleton  Iron  Works,  and  when 
that  large  concern  was  successfully 
launched,  became  its  superintendent.  Un- 
der his  skillful  direction  it  has  become  one 
of  the  prominent  industrial  concerns  of 
this  region.  He  was  superintendent  and 
director  and  secretary  of  the  Anthracite 
Separator  Company ;  president  of  the 
Bangor  Slate  Company  of  Bangor,  Penn- 
sylvania ;  consulting  engineer  of  the 
Minersville  Iron  Works  of  Minersville, 
Schuylkill  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  su- 
perintendent of  the  Hazleton  Steam  Heat- 
ing Works.  These  and  other  connec- 
tions naturally  gave  Mr.  Blatch  a  wide 
prestige  in  the  engineering  and  industrial 
worlds  and  he  was,  without  doubt,  one  of 


the  most  influential  figures  in  the  district. 
Some  years  since,  Mr.  Blatch  retired  from 
active  participation  in  these  important 
interests,  yet  even  to-day  his  opinion  is 
valued  and  his  counsel  sought  in  matters 
concerning  engineering  problems  of  all 
kinds.  In  addition  to  his  great  special 
knowledge  of  engineering,  Mr.  Blatch  is 
gifted  with  an  unusual  degree  of  inven- 
tive genius  and  has  produced  and  patented 
a  number  of  important  devices.  One  of 
these  of  great  importance  is  a  type  of 
rotary  engine  worked  by  gravity,  while 
another  is  an  automobile  brake  now  in 
extensive  use.  He  has  always  been 
keenly  interested  in  the  development  of 
motor  transportation  and  a  great  believer 
in  its  future,  and  is  the  possessor  of  one 
of  the  first  automobiles  used  in  this 
region. 

Thomas  G.  Blatch  was  united  in  mar- 
riage, July  4,  1874,  with  Lizzie  Somers, 
of  Southampton,  England,  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (Somers)  Som- 
ers, old  and  highly  respected  residents  of 
that  city.  Mrs.  Blatch  died  in  the  year 
1878,  leaving  her  husband  with  two  chil- 
dren, as  follows:  1.  Mary  Allison,  born 
March  14,  1876,  became  the  wife  of  Hor- 
ace P.  Gorman,  an  electrical  engineer  of 
Hazleton  and  New  York  City;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Gorman  are  the  parents  of  one  son, 
Thomas  Edward  Gorman.  2.  Francis 
Herbert,  born  April  3,  1878,  married  Ellen 
Piatt,  daughter  of  Ario  Pardee  Piatt,  by 
whom  he  has  had  two  children,  Mary 
Elizabeth  and  Frances  Ellen  Blatch. 


LUTHER,  John  Milton,  M.  D., 
Physician. 

Among  the  prominent  young  surgeons 
of  Pittsburgh  who  have  met  with  marked 
success  in  the  practice  of  their  profession, 
is  Dr.  John  Milton  Luther,  a  member  of 


[53 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


an  old  and  well-known  family  of  Western 
Pennsylvania. 

David  Johnston  Luther,  great-grand- 
father of  Dr.  John  M.  Luther,  was  an 
early  settler  in  Western  Pennsylvania, 
having  located  in  Westmoreland  county 
at  an  early  date,  where  he  followed  farm- 
ing until  his  death.  He  married  Sarah 
Cochrane  Mencher,  and  they  were  the 
parents  of  the  following  children  :    John, 

died  in  infancy;    Sarah,  married  

Love ;    Agnes,  married  Halferty ; 

Isabel,  died  in  young  womanhood ;  Han- 
nah, married  Huston ;  Jane,  mar- 
ried        Bennett ;    Finley ;    George, 

died  in  boyhood ;  James,  of  whom  fur- 
ther; Katharine,  died  in  girlhood;  David, 
died  in  boyhood.  The  Luther  family  were 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and 
took  a  prominent  part  in  local  church 
affairs. 

James  Luther,  son  of  David  Johnston 
and  Sarah  Cochrane  (Mencher)  Luther, 
was  born  in  Fairfield  township,  West- 
moreland county,  Pennsylvania.  He  was 
reared  on  his  father's  farm  and  also  be- 
came a  farmer,  having  cleared  fifty  acres 
of  land  upon  which  he  built  a  cabin.  He 
married  Nancy  Worthington,  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  and  reared  a  family  of  thirteen 
children,  of  whom  Joseph  Garver  was 
one. 

Joseph  Garver  Luther,  son  of  James 
and  Nancy  (Worthington)  Luther,  was 
born  in  Fairfield  township,  Westmoreland 
county,  Pennsylvania,  February  3,  184.1. 
He  received  his  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  county  and  also  a 
select  school  which  he  attended  for  two 
terms.  In  1859  he  commenced  to  learn 
the  carpenter  trade,  and  worked  as  jour- 
neyman for  ten  years  before  going  into 
business  for  himself,  and  was  also  in  the 
undertaking  business  for  forty  years.  In 
1879  he  built  a  planing  mill,  and  in  1884 
a  flouring  mill,  operating  the  latter  for  ten 


years  when  he  sold  it  and  bought  a  farm. 
In  connection  with  his  farming  he  made 
a  specialty  of  stock  raising. 

During  the  Civil  War  Mr.  Luther 
served  nine  months  in  Company  F,  the 
One  Hundred  and  Thirty-fifth  Regiment, 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  and  three  years 
in  Company  D,  Fifth  Heavy  Artillery. 
He  was  first  lieutenant  and  was  also  com- 
missioned a  captain  before  the  close  of 
the  war.  For  five  months  Mr.  Luther  was 
a  prisoner  in  Libby  Prison.  In  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic  he  held  the  office 
of  commander  for  many  years.  Always 
taking  a  keen  interest  in  public  and  civic 
affairs,  Mr.  Luther  served  as  a  school 
director  in  Fairfield  township  for  fifteen 
years,  and  was  justice  of  the  peace  in  the 
same  township  for  nineteen  years.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Fellows  and  the  American  Order 
of  Mechanics. 

On  April  13,  1869,  at  West  Fairfield, 
Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Luther  married  Alice 
Mary  Peoples,  daughter  of  William  and 
Margaret  (Hill)  Peoples,  who  was  born 
February  22,  1852.  His  father-in-law, 
William  Peoples,  was  a  merchant  and 
postmaster  in  West  Fairfield  for  forty 
years,  and  also  held  the  office  of  justice  of 
the  peace  for  thirty  years.  Joseph  Gar- 
ver and  Alice  Mary  (Peoples)  Luther 
were  the  parents  of  thirteen  children:  1. 
Margaret  Morehead,  born  December  15, 
1869;  educated  in  the  public  schools; 
married  Charles  Thompson  Mabon.  2. 
James  Burton,  born  July  19,  1871 ;  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  and  DufFs 
College ;  now  engaged  in  the  undertaking 
business ;  married  (first)  Susanne  Brown, 
who  died  May  27,  1909;  married  (sec- 
ond) Eva  C.  Schumann,  August  17,  1910. 
3.  Cora  Eva,  born  July  20,  1873 ;  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools;  married  Rob- 
ert Loomis  Hamilton,  June  16,  1898.  4. 
Nancy  Worthington,  born  June  14,  1875 ; 


*^Lp^0-tz<^    ri £z$-i^L^<* 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


married  Samuel  Huston,  September  23, 
1896;  died  April  16,  1901.  5.  William 
P.,  born  June  25,  1877;  was  educated  in 
the  public  schools ;  engaged  in  farming ; 
married  (first)  February  22,  1904,  Clara 
Neil  Trimble,  who  died  July  24,  1908 ; 
married  (second)  Bertha  Rachel  John- 
ston, July  6,  1912.  6.  John  Milton,  of 
whom  further.  7.  Blanche  Mabel,  born 
June  2,  1881 ;  was  graduated  from  Blairs- 
ville  College  in  1896;  died  December  7, 
1898.  8.  Samuel  Craig,  born  January  11, 
1883,  died  March  1,  1883.  9.  Harry  Jo- 
seph, born  February  25,  1884;  educated 
in  the  public  schools,  high  school,  and 
was  a  student  at  Washington  and  Jeffer- 
son College  for  one  year;  engaged  in 
chicken  and  stock  business.  10.  George 
Ernest,  born  June  8,  1885,  died  September 
4,  1885.  11.  Mary  Elizabeth,  born  July 
20,  1886,  died  February  24,  1889.  12. 
Grace  Alma,  born  March  20,  1891 ;  mar- 
ried Charles  S.  Gardner.  13.  Paul  How- 
ard, born  July  29,  1894,  died  August  26, 
1894.  Mr.  Luther  was  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  church.  His  death  occurred 
November  14,  1914,  at  West  Fairfield, 
Pennsylvania. 

Dr.  John  Milton  Luther,  son  of  Joseph 
Garver  and  Alice  Mary  (Peoples)  Luther, 
was  born  in  West  Fairfield,  Westmore- 
land county,  Pennsylvania,  July  16,  1879. 
He  received  his  early  education  in  the 
public  schools  of  that  section,  later 
attending  the  Du  Bois  High  School  and 
Washington  and  Jefferson  Academy,  after 
which  he  entered  Washington  and  Jef- 
ferson College,  from  which  institution  he 
was  graduated  in  1903,  receiving  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science.  For  one 
year  after  he  left  college  Dr.  Luther  was 
engaged  in  the  insurance  business,  but 
deciding  to  become  a  physician,  he  entered 
the  medical  department  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  and  was  graduated  in 
1908,   receiving  his   degree  of  Doctor  of 


Medicine.  After  a  year  spent  in  Passa- 
vant  Hospital,  Pittsburgh,  as  interne,  Dr. 
Luther  commenced  the  practice  of  gen- 
eral surgery  in  Pittsburgh,  also  did  the 
work  of  a  general  practitioner  in  medicine 
for  a  short  time,  but  he  has  confined  him- 
self entirely  to  the  practice  of  surgery  for 
some  years,  in  which  profession  he  has  won 
deserved  success.  Dr.  Luther  is  a  member 
of  the  Allegheny  County  Medical  Society 
and  the  Pennsylvania  State  Medical  As- 
sociation. He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  Lodge,  is  a  Knights  Templar, 
member  of  Port  Pitt  Lodge,  No.  634, 
Pittsburgh  Chapter,  No.  268,  Royal  Arch 
Masons,  and  Duquesne  Commandery. 

On  October  15,  1908,  Dr.  Luther  mar- 
ried Carrie  Irene,  daughter  of  William 
Brown  and  Alice  (Larned)  Bennett,  of 
Pittsburgh.  They  have  two  children : 
Alice  Marie,  born  July  21,  1909;  Jane 
Elizabeth,  born  March  9,  1915.  In  poli- 
tics Dr.  Luther  is  a  Republican,  and  he 
is  a  member  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
church.  Both  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Luther  are 
members  of  the  Order  of  the  Eastern 
Star,  Liberty  Chapter. 


YOUNG,  Lazarus  R., 

Merchant. 

Preeminently  a  self-made  man  starting 
in  life  with  few  advantages,  the  life  of 
Lazarus  R.  Young,  of  Plymouth,  is  a 
shining  example  of  what  an  ambitious, 
clean  living  man  accomplishes  if  pos- 
sessed of  those  qualities,  strong  will, 
tenacity  of  purpose,  honesty,  and  indus- 
try. He  not  only  won  fortune  and  busi- 
ness prominence  but  he  won  the  respect 
and  esteem  of  the  community  in  which 
he  was  born,  lived  and  died.  While  he 
began  wage-earning  life  as  a  slate  picker, 
he  did  not  remain  long  at  the  mines,  mer- 
cantile life  making  a  much  stronger 
appeal  to  him.     He  was  twenty-six  years 


155 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


of  age  when  he  attained  the  dignity  of  a 
merchant,  and  twenty-eight  when  his  own 
name  went  up  as  sole  owner  and  pro- 
prietor of  a  general  store  in  Plymouth, 
Pennsylvania,  his  home  town.  That  was 
June  27,  1889,  the  place,  No.  335  West 
Main  street.  For  twenty-nine  years  he 
continued  a  general  merchant  at  the  same 
location,  and  there  was  never  a  time  in 
that  period  when  he  was  not  a  successful, 
prosperous  merchant.  He  builded  upon 
the  sure  foundation  of  integrity  and 
honor,  and  with  increase  in  business  de- 
veloped strong  business  qualities  which, 
coupled  with  industry,  brought  him  great 
reward.  He  continued  the  active  head  of 
the  business  he  founded  and  developed 
until  incapacitated  by  a  stroke  of  paraly- 
sis, which  preceded  by  about  two  weeks 
a  second  and  fatal  attack.  He  was  little 
more  than  in  life's  prime,  and  his  passing 
away  was  deeply  regretted  by  a  very 
wide  circle  of  friends  and  acquaintances. 
He  was  a  son  of  Charles  E.  and  Frances 
(Gabriel)  Young,  of  whose  children  four 
yet  survive :  Clayton  Young,  of  Ply- 
mouth, Pennsylvania;  Mrs.  Mary  Lowe, 
of  Huntington  Mills,  Pennsylvania;  Mrs. 
Frank  Connor,  of  Sayre,  Pennsylvania, 
and  Mrs.  Susan  Garrahan,  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  Pennsylvania. 

(I)  Mr.  Young  was  a  grandson  of 
Charles  Young,  who  came  to  Pennsyl- 
vania from  Germany,  settled  in  the  fertile 
Cumberland  valley  of  Pennsylvania,  in 
Franklin  county,  and  there  passed  his 
life.  He  married  Susan  Madiera,  of  a 
prominent  Pennsylvania  family  of  Dutch 
ancestry,  and  they  reared  a  family,  in- 
cluding a  son,  Charles  E.  Young,  father 
of  Lazarus  R.  Young,  to  whose  memory 
this  tribute  of  respect  is  dedicated. 

(II)  Charles  E.  Young,  son  of  Charles 
and  Susan  (Madiera)  Young,  was  born  in 
Chambersburg,  the  capital  of  Franklin 
county,  Pennsylvania,  February  24,  1803, 


and  there  spent  his  years  of  minority,  his 
father's  assistant,  there  also  obtaining 
such  education  as  the  district  schools 
could  bestow.  On  arriving  at  legal  age 
he  left  home  and  located  in  Plymouth, 
Luzerne  county,  where  he  was  employed 
in  the  mines.  Later  he  took  a  contract 
for  building  a  section  of  the  Nanticoke 
canal,  and  after  canal  and  dam  were  fin- 
ished he  ran  a  canal  boat  until  retiring 
from  all  active  labor.  He  died  in  1874. 
Charles  E.  Young  married,  December  24, 
1838,  Frances  Gabriel,  born  in  Plymouth, 
who  survived  him  until  September  25, 
1900,  a  daughter  of  Henry  and  Edith 
(Van  Loon)  Gabriel,  her  father  born  in 
Connecticut,  her  mother  in  Pennsylvania. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  E.  Young  were  the 
parents  of  eight  children:  Oscar,  who 
moved  to  Indiana;  Susan  E.,  married 
Peter  H.  Garrahan,  of  Wilkes-Barre ; 
Emma,  married  John  Hutchinson,  of  Zen- 
orsville,  Iowa ;  Mary,  married  W.  Howe, 
of  Plymouth ;  John  C,  a  mine  foreman  of 
Plymouth ;  Frances  H.,  married  William 
Connor,  of  Wilkes-Barre ;  Lazarus  D., 
who  died  young;  Lazarus  R.,  of  further 
mention. 

(Ill)  Lazarus  R.  Young,  son  of  Charles 
E.  and  Frances  (Gabriel)  Young,  was 
born  in  Plymouth,  Pennsylvania,  Novem- 
ber 10,  1861,  died  in  the  town  of  his  birth 
November  11,  1918.  He  attended  the 
public  schools,  but  left  when  old  enough 
to  become  a  "breaker  boy,"  and  hence- 
forth his  education  was  such  as  he  gained 
by  self  study,  experience  and  reading.  In 
that  way,  however,  he  acquired  a  wide 
fund  of  information,  and  was  a  very  well 
informed  man.  After  leaving  Washing- 
ton Breaker  No.  1,  the  lad,  Lazarus, 
obtained  a  position  in  the  Turner  Broth- 
ers' general  store,  where  he  remained 
until  August,  1879,  when  he  entered  the 
employ  of  Harvey  Yeager.  Harvey  Yea- 
ger  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Darius 


156 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Yeager,  in  April,  1886,  Mr.  Young  con- 
tinuing with  the  latter  until  March  21, 
1887,  when  he  embarked  in  business  at 
No.  450  West  Main  street,  Plymouth, 
having  as  a  partner  his  brother-in-law, 
P.  H.  Garrahan,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  under 
the  firm  name,  L.  R.  Young  &  Company. 
That  partnership  existed  until  June  27, 
1889,  when  Mr.  Young  bought  his  part- 
ner's interest  and  removed  to  No.  353 
West  Main  street,  where  he  scored  an 
instant  and  continuous  success  as  a  gen- 
eral merchant.  In  politics  Mr.  Young  was 
a  Republican,  and  in  religious  faith  a 
member  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  better 
known  as  the  "Christian  Church,"  and 
trustee  of  the  same.  He  was  a  member 
of  Plymouth  Lodge,  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons,  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  an 
active  member  of  Volunteer  Fire  Com- 
pany No.  1.  He  made  his  business,  how- 
ever, his  chief  concern,  and  nothing  ever 
diverted  him  from  its  vigorous  prosecu- 
tion. He  richly  deserved  the  success  he 
won,  and  in  its  winning  no  man  was 
wronged. 

Mr.  Young  married,  August  28,  1881, 
Pauline  A.  Prudhoe,  of  Revolutionary 
descent,  one  of  her  Ross  ancestors  giving 
up  his  life  in  the  Wyoming  massacre. 
Mrs.  Young  is  a  daughter  of  William  L. 
and  Mary  (Ross)  Prudhoe,  both  deceased, 
her  father  born  in  England,  her  mother 
in  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  and  Mrs,  Prudhoe 
are  the  parents  of :  Joseph  W.,  Lauretta, 
Pauline  A.,  widow  of  Lazarus  R.  Young ; 
Jesse  B.,  deceased ;  Ida  May,  deceased ; 
James  L.,  Jennie,  George,  deceased;  and 
William,  deceased. 


MORRIS,  John  Thompson, 
Philanthropist,  Puhlic-Spirited  Citizen. 

Some  men  there  are  of  natures  so  large 
and  talents  so  versatile  as  to  render  it 
impossible  to  describe  them  in  a  single 


sentence,  unless  it  be  this:  "He  was  an 
all-around  man."  Such  a  man  was  the 
late  John  T.  Morris,  able,  aggressive  busi- 
ness man  and  financier. 

(I)  Anthony  Morris,  founder  of  the 
American  branch  of  the  Morris  family, 
was  born  in  Old  Gravel  Lane,  Stepney, 
London,  England,  August  23,  1654.  He 
was  the  son  of  Anthony  Morris,  mariner, 
of  Welsh  origin,  who  at  the  date  of  birth 
of  his  son  Anthony  was  residing  in  Old 
Gravel  Lane,  Stepney,  but  later  removed 
to  Barbadoes,  and  was  lost  at  sea  when 
on  his  return  voyage  in  1655  or  1656.  He 
was  born  about  the  year  1630,  and  prob- 
ably was  a  son  of  another  Anthony  Mor- 
ris, of  Reading,  Berkshire,  born  about 
1600.  He  married  Elizabeth  Senior,  who 
soon  after  her  husband's  death  made  a 
voyage  to  Barbadoes,  in  connection  with 
the  settlement  of  his  estate,  and  died  there 
in  1660,  when  her  only  child,  Anthony 
Morris,  first  above  mentioned,  was  aged 
six  years. 

Anthony  Morris  spent  his  boyhood 
days  in  the  city  of  London,  and  prior  to 
arriving  at  his  majority  united  himself 
with  the  Society  of  Friends,  becoming  a 
member  of  Savoy  Meeting,  in  the  Strand, 
which  was  connected  with  the  Westmins- 
ter Monthly  Meeting.  On  i2mo.  (Febru- 
ary) 2,  1675-76,  he  declared  intentions 
of  marriage  with  Mary  Jones,  belonging 
to  the  same  Meeting,  and  they  were  mar- 
ried, imo.  (March)  30,  1676.  They  con- 
tinued to  reside  in  London  until  near  the 
close  of  the  year  1682,  and  four  children 
were  born  to  them  there,  Susanna,  Mary, 
and  two  who  were  named  for  the  father, 
all  of  whom  died  there  except  the  last. 
On  8mo.  (October)  4,  1682,  they  laid 
before  the  Meeting  at  Savoy  their  inten- 
tions of  removing  themselves  to  America, 
and  asked  for  a  certificate  to  Friends' 
Meeting  at  Burlington,  "New  West  Jer- 
sie."    The  certificate  was  granted  on  omo. 


157 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


(November)  i,  1682,  and  they  embarked 
for  the  Delaware  river,  where  they 
arrived  in  the  later  part  of  February, 
1682-83,  and  took  up  their  home  in  Bur- 
lington. Anthony  Morris  purchased  two 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  in  Burlington 
county,  fronting  on  the  Delaware,  two 
miles  below  the  town,  and  also  owned 
several  town  lots.  In  the  latter  part  of 
1685,  or  early  in  1686,  he  removed  to 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  and  began 
his  successful  career  as  a  merchant. 
Three  more  children  were  born  by  his 
first  wife  to  him  in  America :  John,  in 
Burlington,  2mo.  17,  1685;  Samuel  and 
James,  in  Philadelphia.  His  first  wife  died 
in  Philadelphia,  8mo.  (October)  3,  1688, 
and  he  married  (second)  at  Philadelphia 
Monthly  Meeting,  8mo.  (October)  28, 
1689,  Agnes,  widow  of  Cornelius  Bom, 
who  had  been  married  three  times  previ- 
ously. She  died  5mo.  (July)  26,  1692, 
and  he  married  (third)  at  Newport, 
Rhode  Island,  11  mo.  (January)  18,  1693- 
94,  Mary,  widow  of  Thomas  Coddington, 
son  of  Governor  William  Coddington,  of 
Rhode  Island,  and  daughter  of  John 
Howard,  formerly  of  Yorkshire,  Eng- 
land. Anthony  Morris  early  became 
identified  with  the  affairs  of  the  embryo 
city  of  Philadelphia,  and  on  its  incorpora- 
tion, 3mo.,  20,  1691,  was  named  in  the 
charter  as  one  of  the  first  aldermen.  On 
September  6,  1692,  he  was  commissioned 
justice  of  the  Courts  of  Common  Pleas 
and  Quarter  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  and 
Orphans'  Court.  On  February  10,  1697- 
98,  he  was  one  of  the  applicants  for  the 
charter  of  the  public  school,  and  was 
afterward  named  in  the  charter  as  one  of 
the  first  Board  of  Overseers.  When  the 
new  charter  was  granted  in  171 1,  he  was 
named  as  one  of  the  overseers,  and  the 
family  has  been  represented  on  the  board 
for  many  generations.  He  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Provincial  Council  in  1695, 


and  reelected  in  1696.  He  was  named 
as  one  of  the  original  Board  of  Aldermen 
in  city  charter  of  1701,  and  October  5, 
1703,  was  elected  mayor,  serving  one 
year.  He  was  elected  to  Colonial  Assem- 
bly, May  10,  1698,  and  served  until  Octo- 
ber 1,  1704.  He  was  closely  associated 
in  business  and  official  circles  with  his 
brother-in-law,  Edward  Shippen,  who  had 
married  Rebecca,  widow  of  Francis  Rich- 
ardson, formerly  Rebecca  Howard,  a  sis- 
ter of  Anthony  Morris'  third  wife,  Mary 
(Howard)  Coddington.  In  1687  An- 
thony Morris  established  a  brewery  in 
Philadelphia,  and  he  and  his  descendants 
carried  on  the  brewing  business  on  an 
extensive  scale  for  many  years.  Anthony 
Morris  was  a  preacher  among  Friends 
and  traveled  extensively  in  the  ministry 
in  New  England  and  other  parts  of  the 
colonies,  and  also  visited  the  Meeting  in 
London,  where  he  first  became  a  mem- 
ber. He  died  of  apoplexy,  October  23, 
1721.    His  third  wife  died  September  25, 

1699,  and  he  married  (fourth)  October  30, 

1700,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Luke  and 
Sarah  Watson. 

(II)  Anthony  (2)  Morris,  eldest  son 
of  Anthony  (1)  and  Mary  (Jones)  Mor- 
ris, born  in  London,  England,  March  15, 
1681-82,  came  to  New  Jersey  with  his  par- 
ents when  less  than  a  year  old,  and  re- 
moved with  them  to  Philadelphia  (where 
he  was  destined  to  take  an  important 
part  in  city  and  Colonial  affairs)  at  the 
age  of  four  years.  At  the  age  of  four- 
teen years,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  times,  he  was  apprenticed  to  Henry 
Badcock  and  Mary,  his  wife,  to  learn  the 
brewing  business.  Under  the  terms  of 
his  indenture  he  was  to  serve  seven  years 
from  February  29,  1695-96.  Soon  after 
attaining  his  majority  he  became  asso- 
ciated with  his  father  in  the  brewing  busi- 
ness, and  continued  to  carry  on  that  busi- 
ness, probably  during  his  entire  life,  but 
58 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


he  early  became  interested  in  other  busi- 
ness ventures,  notably  that  of  owner 
and  proprietor  of  iron  furnaces  and  forges 
in  various  parts  of  Pennsylvania  and  New 
Jersey.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Durham  Iron  Works  in  1727,  which 
commenced  operations  in  the  autumn  of 
that  year.  He  was  one  of  the  founders 
and  owners  of  two-sixteenth  shares  of  the 
Pool  forge  on  Manatawny  creek  in  Berks 
county,  1731,  and  also  owned  one-twelfth 
interest  in  a  large  furnace  on  Colebrook- 
dale  on  the  Manatawny,  which  supplied 
the  forge.  On  June  20,  1729,  with  Thomas 
Lambert,  John  Porterfield  and  James 
Trent,  he  founded  a  forge  on  the  Assun- 
pink,  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  which  was 
probably  supplied  from  the  Durham  fur- 
nace, in  which  both  he  and  Trent  held  an 
interest.  He  also  purchased  at  about  the 
same  date  a  tract  of  land  on  the  Assun- 
pink,  with  the  privilege  of  erecting  corn 
mills,  grist  mills  and  saw  mills.  In  1724 
he  became  part  owner  of  the  mills,  and  a 
forge  with  four  hundred  acres  of  land,  at 
Wells  Ferry,  now  New  Hope,  Bucks 
county,  and  in  1736,  with  Benjamin 
Canby,  who  conducted  a  forge  there  for 
several  years,  was  granted  by  proprie- 
taries' commissioners  the  privilege  of  a 
tract  of  land  in  the  Manor  Highlands, 
on  the  Delaware  river,  for  erecting  a 
storehouse  and  wharf  below  the  ferry, 
with  privilege  of  a  road  thereto,  for  con- 
venience of  carrying  flour  and  other 
goods  and  merchandise  by  water  on  the 
said  river.  He  was  one  of  the  largest 
landowners  in  Pennsylvania,  continuing 
until  late  in  life,  either  alone  or  in  asso- 
ciation with  others,  to  purchase  large 
tracts  of  land  in  different  parts  of  the 
province.  He  was  elected  a  member  of 
Common  Council  of  Philadelphia,  Octo- 
ber 4,  1 71 5,  but  does  not  seem  to  have 
taken  his  seat  until  July  30,  1716;  the 
term  at  that  date  was  for  life,  and  when 


he  was  elected  by  Council  as  an  alder- 
man, September  29,  1726,  he  declined, 
preferring  to  retain  his  seat  in  Council. 
He  was,  however,  again  chosen,  October 
2>  x733>  as  alderman,  and  then  accepted 
and  served  until  elected  mayor  of  the 
city,  October  3,  1738,  which  latter  posi- 
tion he  filled  for  one  year.  He  was  com- 
missioned associate  justice  of  the  City 
Courts,  October  2,  1733,  and  on  his  re- 
tirement from  the  mayoralty  became  jus- 
tice of  the  Orphans'  Court.  He  was 
elected  overseer  of  public  schools,  3mo., 
18,  1725,  and  served  in  that  capacity  until 
his  death,  September  23,  1763.  He  was 
elected  mayor  a  second  time,  October  6, 
1747,  but  not  desiring  to  serve,  absented 
himself  from  home,  and  after  a  vain 
attempt  to  find  him,  in  which  those 
charged  with  serving  the  notice  upon  him 
visited  his  iron  works  in  Berks  county, 
New  Jersey,  and  elsewhere,  in  search  of 
him,  William  Atwood  was  selected  in  his 
stead.  In  Colonial  affairs  he  filled  the 
same  prominent  position  as  in  city  affairs. 
He  was  elected  to  represent  Philadelphia 
in  Colonial  Assembly  in  1721,  first  taking 
his  seat  on  October  14,  1721,  a  few  days 
before  the  death  of  his  honored  father. 
Like  his  father,  he  at  once  took  a  prom- 
inent part  in  affairs  of  State.  He  was 
actively  identified  with  the  issue  of  paper 
currency,  and  was,  March  23,  1723,  named 
by  Assembly  as  one  of  the  signers  of 
"Bills  of  Credit,"  as  this  early  issue  of 
paper  money  was  designated.  He  was 
reelected  to  the  Assembly  for  years  1722- 
23-24-25  and  sat  until  the  close  of  the 
session  6mo.  6,  1726.  In  endeavoring  as 
an  alderman  and  magistrate  to  suppress 
a  riot  in  the  streets  of  Philadelphia,  dur- 
ing the  exciting  and  bitter  contest  for 
election  of  members  of  Assembly  in  1742, 
he  was  knocked  down  "and  nearly  mur- 
dered" as  shown  by  numerous  depositions 
presented  at  the  next  Assembly.    He  was 

159 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


a  prominent  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  and  the  old  Mansion  House  on 
Second  street,  above  Arch,  where  he  and 
his  family  resided  for  many  years,  and 
where  he  died,  was  the  scene  of  many 
notable  gatherings  of  the  elite  of  the  city 
and  colony  with  whom  the  family  were 
prominently  associated.  Anthony  Mor- 
ns married,  in  Philadelphia,  3010.  (May) 
10,  1704,  Phoebe,  daughter  of  George  and 
Alice  (Bailyes)  Guest,  born  7mo.  (Sep- 
tember) 28,  1685,  died  March  18,  1768. 

(Ill)  Anthony  (3)  Morris,  eldest  son 
of  Anthony  (2)  and  Phoebe  (Guest)  Mor- 
ris, born  in  Philadelphia,  February  14, 
1705-06,  on  arriving  at  manhood  became 
associated  with  his  father  in  the  brewing 
business,  to  which  the  father,  owing  to 
the  multiplicity  of  his  business  interests, 
was  able  to  give  but  little  attention.  Be- 
coming interested  in  a  business  venture  in 
the  Barbadoes,  he  took  a  certificate  from 
Philadelphia  Monthly  Meeting  to  the 
Monthly  Meeting  at  Barbadoes,  dated 
i2mo.  (February)  28,  1728-29,  and  re- 
mained on  the  islands  six  months.  Return- 
ing to  Philadelphia,  he  again  gave  his 
attention  to  the  brewing  business,  and 
became  a  partner  with  his  father,  Decem- 
ber 19,  1 74 1.  He  was  a  large  land  owner 
in  Philadelphia  and  elsewhere,  and  like 
his  father  was  actively  associated  with 
the  business  and  official  life  of  the  city, 
and  held  a  high  place  in  the  social  life. 
He  was  a  contributor  to  the  Pennsylvania 
Hospital,  1 75 1,  of  which  his  brother  Jo- 
seph was  one  of  the  original  managers. 
He  was  from  the  first  a  champion  of  the 
Colonies  against  the  oppressive  meas- 
ures of  the  mother  country,  and  a  signer 
of  the  non-importation  agreement,  No- 
vember 7,  1765.  He  and  his  second  wife, 
Elizabeth,  took  an  active  interest  in 
benevolent  and  philanthropic  work  in 
the  city,  and  were  members  of  the  Society 
of  Friends.     Anthony  Morris  died  at  his 


country  seat  "Peckham,"  in  Southwark, 
October  2,  1780.  He  married  (first) 
i2mo.  1730,  Sarah,  born  June  29,  1713, 
daughter  of  Samuel  Powell,  a  rich  builder, 
by  his  wife,  jAbigail  (Wilcox)  Powell. 
She  died  April  10,  1751,  and  he  married 
(second)  April  30,  1752,  Elizabeth,  born 
February  20,  1721-22,  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam and  Jane  (Evans)  Hudson,  and 
granddaughter  of  William  Hudson,  mem- 
ber of  Colonial  Assembly,  and  mayor  of 
Philadelphia,  1725-26,  by  his  wife,  Mary 
(Richardson)  Hudson.  Elizabeth  Mor- 
ris survived  her  husband,  dying  May  23, 
I783- 

(IV)  Captain  Samuel  Morris,  eldest 
surviving  son  of  Anthony  (3)  and  Sarah 
(Powell)  Morris,  born  in  Philadelphia, 
June  24,  1734,  usually  referred  to  on  the 
early  records  as  Samuel  Morris,  Jr.,  to 
distinguish  him  from  his  uncle,  Samuel 
Morris,  Sr.,  both  being  members  of  the 
board  of  war  during  the  Revolution,  was 
one  of  the  most  prominent  of  this  promi- 
nent family  in  public  affairs.  On  Janu- 
ary 8,  1750,  he  was  apprenticed  to  Isaac 
Greenleafe,  merchant,  to  serve  until  he 
attained  his  majority,  a  period  of  four 
years,  five  months  and  two  weeks.  Mr. 
Greenleafe  had  married  as  his  second 
wife,  Catharine,  daughter  of  Casper  and 
Catharine  (Jansen)  Wistar,  and  through 
her  their  young  apprentice  was  brought 
in  close  association  with  her  sister,  Re- 
becca Wistar,  whom  he  married  only  a 
few  months  after  the  close  of  his  appren- 
ticeship, December   11,   1755. 

Samuel  Morris  was  an  original  member 
of  the  Colony  in  Schuylkill,  in  1748,  was 
elected  its  Governor  in  1766,  and  served 
until  his  death.  He  was  also  a  member  of 
the  "Society  of  Fort  St.  Davids,"  of  which 
the  membership  was  principally  Welsh  of 
the  "Order  of  Ancient  Britons."  Samuel 
Morris  was  also  one  of  the  most  ardent 
members  of  the  Gloucester  Fox-Hunting 


160 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Club,  of  which  he  was  president  from  its 
organization  until  his  death ;  it  was  com- 
posed of  the  aristocratic  youths  of  Phil- 
adelphia. It  was  from  this  organization 
that  he  organized,  November  17,  1774, 
the  Philadelphia  Troop  of  Light  Horse, 
of  which  he  served  many  years  as  captain, 
and  which  rendered  such  efficient  serv- 
ice in  the  early  days  of  the  Revolutionary 
War.  Their  first  flag,  presented  to  them 
by  Captain  Markoe,  and  still  a  prized 
possession  of  the  troop,  was  the  first 
known  flag  to  contain  thirteen  stripes, 
and  is  thought  to  have  suggested  the 
adoption  of  the  striped  Union  Flag  at 
Cambridge,  six  months  after  the  City 
Troop  had  escorted  General  George 
Washington,  accompanied  by  Lee  and 
Schuyler,  to  New  York,  when  on  his  way 
to  take  command  of  the  army  at  Cam- 
bridge, June  21,  1775.  Captain  Markoe 
had  then  resigned  and  Samuel  Morris 
was  unanimously  elected  as  captain.  Cap- 
tain Samuel  Morris  and  his  brother, 
Mauor  Anthony  Morris,  were  the  most 
ardent  of  patriots  from  the  time  of  the 
earliest  protest,  the  signing  of  the  Non- 
importation Resolutions,  October  25, 1765, 
the  latter  being  one  of  the  delegates  to 
the  Provincial  Convention  of  July  15, 
1774,  eventually  gave  his  life  to  the  cause 
of  liberty,  being  killed  in  the  battle  of 
Princeton,  January  3,  1777.  Samuel  Mor- 
ris was  selected  a  member  of  the  first 
committee  of  Safety  of  the  State,  ap- 
pointed by  Assembly,  June  30,  1775,  and 
when  this  body  was  merged  into  the 
Council  of  Safety,  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  that  body,  July  24,  1776,  but 
declined,  preferring  to  give  his  atten- 
tion to  more  active  service.  He  was 
appointed  by  a  resolve  of  the  Committee 
of  Safety,  January  22,  1776,  chairman  of 
a  committee  to  survey  the  Jersey  shore 
of  the  Delaware  from  Billingsport  to 
Newtown     creek,     to     determine     what 


posts  it  would  be  necessary  to  fortify 
against  any  attempted  invasion  of  the 
enemy.  He  interested  himself  in  the 
equipment  of  and  organization  of  the 
army,  and  was  energetic  in  completing 
the  naval  defenses  of  the  city  and  block- 
ing the  channel  of  the  Delaware.  When 
the  Hessians  embarked  from  Staten 
Island,  October,  1776,  the  Council  of 
Safety  ordered  that  a  letter  be  sent  to 
"Samuel  Morris  junr.  requesting  him  to 
send  up  the  Ammunition  Sloop  and  to 
supply  himself  with  a  shallop  in  her  stead, 
to  assist  in  making  the  Chevaux  de  Frize, 
at  Billingsport."  His  City  Troop  was 
kept  constantly  drilled,  and  its  services 
tendered  to  the  Government  at  the  break- 
ing out  of  hostilities,  and  it  served  as 
a  bodyguard  of  General  Washington 
through  the  campaign  of  1776-77.  In  No- 
vember, 1776,  several  of  the  troop  were 
at  the  headquarters  at  Morristown,  New 
Jersey,  and  on  report  of  General  Howe's 
advance,  the  entire  troop,  under  Captain 
Morris,  joined  General  Washington  at 
Trenton,  December  3,  1776,  and  marched 
with  him  to  Princeton,  and  covering  his 
retreat,  five  days  later,  were  the  last  to 
cross  the  Delaware  into  Pennsylvania. 
On  Christmas  night,  1776,  they  recrossed 
the  Delaware  in  the  storm  and  sleet  and 
participated  in  the  historic  battle  of  Tren- 
ton, several  members  of  the  troop  distin- 
guishing themselves  by  special  acts  of 
bravery,  though  this  was  the  first  time 
they  had  been  under  fire,  in  active  service. 
On  December  30,  1776,  the  troop  again 
crossed  the  Delaware  and  marched  with 
General  Washington  to  Trenton,  where 
was  fought  the  battle  of  Assunpink 
Creek ;  both  of  these  battles  being  fought 
on  land  that  had  belonged  for  a  half- 
century  to  the  Morris  family.  When  Gen- 
eral Washington  decided  to  move  off  dur- 
ing the  night  to  Princeton,  it  was  the 
City  Troop  who  were  selected  to  keep  up 


1G1 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


the  camp  fires  to  divert  suspicion  from  his 
movements  and  to  follow  him  to  Prince- 
ton, where  they  especially  distinguished 
themselves,  being  at  the  front  with  Wash- 
ington when  he  drove  the  enemy  over 
fields  and  fences.  Here  it  was  that  Major 
Anthony  Morris  was  killed  in  action. 
After  the  battle  of  Princeton,  the  troop 
remained  in  headquarters  at  Morristown, 
New  Jersey,  for  about  three  weeks,  and 
the  campaign  being  over  were  honorably 
discharged,  January  23,  1777,  with  the 
highest  praise  of  General  Washington, 
the  letter  of  discharge  being  still  in  pos- 
session of  the  Morris  family.  This  troop 
was  the  only  cavalry  in  the  Jersey  cam- 
paign, and  served  entirely  at  their  own 
expense.  After  its  discharge  it,  however, 
maintained  its  organization,  and  with  its 
valiant  captain  took  part  in  the  battle  of 
Brandywine  and  Germantown,  camped  at 
Valley  Forge  and  served  in  the  operations 
around  Philadelphia,  until  the  evacuation 
of  Philadelphia  by  the  British  in  June, 
1778,  and  for  the  next  two  years  was  in 
the  service  of  Congress  and  under  State 
authority ;  was  again  in  Trenton  in  June, 
1780,  but  the  enemy  having  left  the  State, 
returned  to  Philadelphia  and  again  re- 
ceived the  thanks  of  General  Washing- 
ton. The  troop  again  received  his  thanks 
for  services  during  the  Whiskey  Insur- 
rection of  1794.  The  organization  has 
been  maintained  to  the  present  time,  it 
being  now  known  as  "First  Troop,  Phil- 
adelphia City  Cavalry."  Captain  Samuel 
Morris  continued  with  General  Washing- 
ton until  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  and 
was  constantly  employed  as  the  bearer 
of  confidential  messages,  and  his  troop 
was  always  held  in  readiness  to  perform 
special  duty.  Captain  Morris  was  elected 
to  the  Provincial  Assembly  in  1776  and 
served  in  that  body  until  February  21, 
1777;  was  again  elected  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Commonwealth  in  1781- 


82-83.  He  possessed  a  strong  but  gentle 
personality,  and  was  known  as  "Christian 
Sam."  He  died  at  his  residence  in  Phil- 
adelphia, July  7,  1812.  His  wife,  Rebecca 
(Wistar)  Morris,  had  died  January  22, 
1791. 

(V)  Isaac  Wistar  Morris,  sixth  son  of 
Captain  Samuel  and  Rebecca  (Wistar) 
Morris,  born  in  Philadelphia,  July  19, 
1770,  on  attaining  his  majority  became  a 
partner  with  his  brother,  Luke  Morris, 
in  the  conduct  of  the  brewery  at  Dock  and 
Pear  streets,  but  retired  from  business  in 
1810,  and  lived  a  retired  life  in  Philadel- 
phia until  his  death,  May  18,  1831.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  company  organized 
in  1789  to  prosecute  the  enterprise  of 
perfecting  the  Fitch  steamboat.  He  mar- 
ried, at  Philadelphia  Meeting,  i2mo.  17, 
1795,  Sarah,  born  imo.  22,  1772,  died 
iomo.  25,  1842,  daughter  of  Isaac  and  Pa- 
tience (Mifflin)  Paschall. 

(VI)  Isaac  Paschall  Morris,  son  of 
Isaac  Wistar  and  Sarah  (Paschall)  Mor- 
ris, was  born  at  "Cedar  Grove,"  July  24, 
1803.  He  was  educated  for  a  druggist, 
and  in  1826,  with  Charles  Ellis,  pur- 
chased of  Elizabeth  Marshall  the  old 
Marshall  drug  establishment  at  No.  56 
Chestnut  street,  Philadelphia,  established 
by  her  grandfather,  Christopher  Marshall, 
in  1740.  The  new  firm  of  Ellis  &  Morris 
at  once  took  front  rank  in  the  drug  busi- 
ness in  the  city,  but  Isaac  P.  Morris  found 
the  business  distasteful,  and  at  the  end  of 
one  year  sold  his  interest  to  William  Ellis 
and  the  firm  of  Charles  Ellis  &  Son  Com- 
pany continued  the  business. 

About  1827  Levi  Morris  established  his 
.  iron  works  at  Schuylkill,  Seventh  and 
Market  streets  (now  16th  and  Market). 
He  afterwards  admitted  to  partnership 
his  cousins,  Isaac  P.  Morris  and  Joseph  P. 
Morris,  and  the  name  became  Levi  Mor- 
ris &  Company.  Joseph  P.  Morris  retired 
from  the  firm  shortly  after  its  commence- 
162 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


ment.  In  1834,  Lewis  Taws,  who  was 
very  well  known  as  a  practical  iron  man, 
became  a  partner,  and  upon  the  retire- 
ment of  Levi  Morris,  in  1841,  the  name 
changed  to  I.  P.  Morris  &  Company.  In 
1847  the  company  removed  from  the  old 
location  to  the  works  long  known  as  the 
Port  Richmond  Iron  Works.  In  the  year 
1847,  John  J.  Thompson  became  a  part- 
ner, and  in  1862  John  H.  Towne  also 
was  admitted,  and  the  name  changed  to 
I.  P.  Morris,  Towne  &  Cumpany.  In 
1868  the  name  of  I.  P.  Morris  &  Com- 
pany was  resumed.  In  1876  the  firm 
incorporated,  the  name  being  I.  P.  Morris 
Company,  with  John  T.  Morris  as  presi- 
dent, which  continued  until  July  1,  1891, 
when  the  stock  was  purchased  by  the 
Cramp  Shipbuilding  Company.  From 
this  establishment  some  of  the  finest 
machinery  of  the  country,  of  the  most 
advanced  type  of  the  times,  has  been 
turned  out. 

In  the  management  of  the  company  apd 
throughout  his  life,  Mr.  Morris  displayed 
and  exercised  that  rare  business  ability 
and  judgment  that  had  characterized  his 
family  for  many  generations,  and  con- 
tinued his  personal  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  the  company  to  his  death,  though  in 
his  later  years  his  health  was  much  im- 
paired. He  married,  November  17,  1841, 
at  the  Friends'  Meeting  House,  on  Or- 
ange street,  Rebecca,  born  February  4, 
181 1,  daughter  of  James  B.  and  Lydia 
(Poultney)  Thompson.  Mr.  Morris  died 
at  his  residence,  826  Pine  street,  Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania,  January  11,  1869,  his 
wife  surviving  him  until  March  22,  1881. 
They  were  the  parents  of  the  following 
children:  1.  James  Thompson,  born  Sep- 
tember 18,  1842,  died  September  23,  1874; 
married,  December  5,  1872,  Jane  Glover 
Montague.  2.  Isaac  Wistar,  born  July 
14,  1844,  died  November  5,  1872,  unmar- 
ried. 3.  John  Thompson,  see  below.  4. 
Lydia  Thompson. 


(VII)  John  Thompson  Morris,  son  of 
Isaac  Paschall  and  Rebecca  (Thompson) 
Morris,  was  born  July  12,  1847,  m  Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania.  He  was  educated 
in  private  schools  and  at  Haverford  Col- 
lege. Mr.  Morris  was  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  I.  P.  Morris  Company  until  its  sale 
to  Cramps,  as  stated  above.  He  was  a 
manager  of  the  Philadelphia  Saving  Fund 
Society;  chairman  of  The  Philadelphia 
Contributionship  for  the  Insurance  of 
Houses  from  Loss  by  Fire  (1752),  and  a 
member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Frank- 
lin Institute;  trustee  of  the  Fairmount 
Park  Art  Association  and  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Museum  and  School  of  Industrial 
Art;  overseer  of  the  Public  School  char- 
tered by  William  Penn  in  171 1  ;  council- 
lor of  The  Historical  Society  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  was  also  ex-president  of  the 
Numismatic  and  Antiquarian  Society  of 
Pennsylvania ;  and  the  Chestnut  Hill  Hor- 
ticultural Society ;  ex-president  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb ;  and  was  at  one  time  manager  of 
Haverford  College.  No  good  work  done 
in  the  name  of  charity  or  religion  sought 
his  cooperation  in  vain.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  in  poli- 
tics a  Republican ;  also  a  member  of 
the  American  Philosophical  Society,  the 
Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  and  the 
Union  League  of  Philadelphia.  For 
many  years  he  was  one  of  the  most  gen- 
erous supporters  of  the  Philadelphia 
Orchestra.  He  possessed  an  interesting 
collection  of  paintings,  including  some 
noteworthy  Japanese  work. 

Of  fine  presence  and  polished  manners, 
John  T.  Morris  was  a  man  once  seen  not 
soon  forgotten.  For  a  number  of  years 
ere  his  death  Mr.  Morris  lived  a  retired 
life,  devoting  himself  to  looking  after 
his  private  interests.  He  was  a  man  of 
whom  it  might  be  truly  said  that  he  was 
enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow- 
citizens.     The  death  of  John  T.  Morris 


1  <>3 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


occurred  August  15,  1915.  He  made  for 
himself  a  record  of  noteworthy  achieve- 
ment and  public-spirited  service,  worthily 
supplementing  his  ancestral  record,  and 
his  name  is  inscribed  with  honor  in  the 
annals  of  his  city  and  his  State. 


WAINWRIGHT,  Samuel  J., 

Representative  Citizen. 

One  of  the  strong  men  of  the  Old  Pitts- 
burgh— one  of  those  Titans  of  trade 
whose  heroic  proportions  seem  to  dwarf 
the  successors  of  the  present  day — was 
the  late  Samuel  J.  Wainwright.  Mr. 
Wainwright  was  a  man  who  touched  life 
at  many  points,  and  his  abilities  and 
sterling  traits  of  character  caused  him 
to  be  regarded  by  the  entire  community 
with  feelings  of  profound  admiration. 
The  Wainwright  family  is  one  of  the  old 
families  of  England.  The  arms  are  as  fol- 
lows : 

Arms — Argent,  on  a  chevron  between  three 
fleurs-de-lis  azure,  a  lion  rampant  of  the  field,  a 
border  engrailed  sable. 

Crest — A  lion  rampant  argent,  holding  an 
ancient  battle-ax,  handle  of  the  first,  headed  or. 

(I)  Joseph  Wainwright,  the  American 
ancestor  of  this  family,  was  born  in 
Berkshire,  England,  October  17,  1779, 
and  died  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  De- 
cember 23,  1866.  He  emigrated  to 
America  in  1803,  settling  in  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania,  in  what  is  now  known  as 
the  Fifteenth  Ward.  He  established  the 
Winterton  brewery  in  1818,  and  after  sev- 
eral years,  in  which  he  accumulated  much 
property,  including  a  large  amount  of  real 
estate,  he  returned  to  his  native  country 
to  visit  the  scenes  of  his  childhood  days. 
Later  the  brewery  was  transferred  to  his 
sons,  who  operated  it  for  many  years. 
Joseph  Wainwright  was  baptized  in  the 
old  Peniston  Episcopal  Church,  in  Eng- 
land, where  he  was  subsequently  married. 


He  and  his  family  were  members  of  St. 
John's  Episcopal  Church,  in  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania.  He  married,  January  7, 
1801,  Elizabeth  Greaves,  born  February 
16,  1782,  died  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsyl- 
vania, January  10,  1852,  and  both  she  and 
her  husband  were  interred  in  the  Alle- 
gheny Cemetery.     Their  children  were: 

1.  Olivia,  born  December  3,  1801 ;  mar- 
ried Thomas  Benn ;  died  March  72,  1882. 

2.  Edwy,  see  below.  3.  Jarvis,  born  No- 
vember 19,  1806,  died  August  5,  1874. 
4.  Ellis,  born  January  2^,  1809,  was  a 
man  of  prominence  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
where  he  died.  5.  Martha  G.,  born  March 
1,  181.1;  married  William  Withnell ;  died 
May  27,  1886.  6.  Eliza,  born  June  16, 
1815 ;  married  (first)  Samuel  Humes; 
married  (second)  a  Mr.  Bond.  7.  Zacha- 
riah,  born  February  4,  1818,  died  April 
16,  1871.  8.  Mary  Ann,  born  February 
4,  1818,  died  August  16,  1899;  married  Ed- 
mund Wilkins.  9.  Samuel,  born  March 
6,  1821,  died  October  19,  1874;  was  of  St. 
Louis,  Missouri.     10.  Charles,  born  June 

3.  1823,  died  in  youth.  11.  Harriet,  born 
May  24,  1826,  died  in  youth. 

(II)  Edwy  Wainwright,  eldest  son  and 
second  child  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth 
(Greaves)  Wainwright,  was  born  in 
Yorkshire,  England,  December  8,  1803, 
and  was  but  eighteen  months  of  age  when 
he  came  to  America  with  his  parents.  He 
was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania,  receiving  a  thorough  and 
practical  training  in  the  business  of  his 
father,  and  was  engaged  in  this  line  all 
his  life.  He  married  Abigail  Ewalt,  whose 
ancestry  follows :  She  was  a  devoted 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church,  and  a  kind  and  loving  wife  and 
mother,  who  ever  sought  the  good  will 
and  happiness  of  those  about  her.  Chil- 
dren of  Edwy  and  Abigail  (Ewalt)  Wain- 
wright: 1.  Samuel  Jacob,  see  below.  2. 
Joseph  Z.,  born  February  29,  1832,  living 


[64 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


ai  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  3.  Harris 
Ewalt,  born  January  17,  1835. 

(Ill)  Samuel  Jacob  Wainwright,  son 
of  Edwy  and  Abigail  (Ewalt)  Wain- 
wright, was  born  on  the  old  homestead 
in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  December 
29,  1829.  His  education  was  acquired  in 
the  public  schools  of  his  city,  and  he  was 
then  apprenticed  to  learn  the  copper- 
smith's trade  at  the  old  Scaife  foundry 
and  followed  this  occupation  for  several 
years.  Later  he  associated  himself  with 
his  uncles  and  brothers  in  the  brewery 
business,  and  had  charge  of  the  office.  In 
addition  to  his  labors  in  the  brewery  bus- 
iness he  was  actively  interested  in  a  num- 
ber of  other  business  enterprises.  He  was 
one  of  the  directors  of  the  Arsenal  Bank 
for  many  years  and  filled  the  office  of 
president  for  sixteen  years.  He  was  also 
a  director  of  the  old  Pittsburgh  Gas  Com- 
pany. He  was  one  of  those  men  whose 
vigorous,  compelling  natures  wrench  suc- 
cess from  the  many  difficulties  they  may 
encounter.  He  seemed  to  find  the  hap- 
piness of  success  in  his  work  a  reward 
more  than  sufficient  to  compensate  him 
for  any  expenditure  of  time  and  strength. 
His  singularly  strong  personality  exerted 
a  wonderful  influence  on  his  associates 
and  subordinates,  and  to  the  former  he 
showed  a  kindly,  humerous  side  of  his 
nature  which  made  their  relations  most 
enjoyable,  while  the  unfailing  justice  and 
kindliness  of  his  conduct  toward  the  lat- 
ter won  for  him  their  most  loyal  support. 
Mr.  Wainwright's  political  support  was 
given  to  the  Republican  party,  and  he 
was  active  in  all  movements  that  tended 
toward  public  betterment.  He  served  as 
a  member  of  the  City  Council  for  many 
years,  and  was  a  member  of  the  State 
Legislature.  He  was  a  member  of  St. 
John's  Episcopal  Church,  and  fraternally 
associated  with  the  Masonic  order. 

Samuel  J.  Wainwright  married,  August 


14,  1856,  Mary  Frances  Benn,  born  Octo- 
ber 15,  1829,  in  Helmesley,  England, 
daughter  of  Thomas  and  Frances  (Brit- 
ton)  Benn,  the  latter  named  born  in  1803. 
Children  of  Samuel  J.  and  Mary  Frances 
(Benn)  Wainwright:  1.  Harriet,  died  in 
childhood.  2.  Edwy,  deceased.  3.  Sam- 
uel Jacob,  Jr.,  of  Pittsburgh.  4.  John  E., 
whose  sketch  follows.  5.  Abigail  Ewalt, 
of  Pittsburgh.  The  death  of  Mrs.  Sam- 
uel J.  Wainwright  occurred  April  17, 
1869. 

On  July  5,  1891,  Samuel  J.  Wainwright 
passed  away.  He  was  one  of  the  men 
who  by  force  of  character,  kindliness  of 
disposition  and  steady  and  persistent 
good  conduct  in  all  the  situations  and 
under  all  the  trials  of  life  take  possession 
of  the  public  heart  and  hold  it  after  they 
have  ceased  from  earth.  His  record 
forms  a  part  of  the  annals  of  his  city. 

(The  Ewalt  Line). 

The    Ewalt    family,    originally    Evaul,  Vn\. 
later  Ewald,  and  later  still  Ewalt,  is  one 
of    the    most    ancient   of   the    Huguenot 
families,  and  the  seat  of  the  family  was 
originally    in    Normandy.      The    arms   of-T.    » 
the  family  are  as  follows: 

Arms — Quarterly — 1.  Or,  an   arm   embowed  in 
armour    fessways   to   the   sinister   holding   in  its^    , 
hand  a  sword,  point  to  the  dexter,  all  proper.    2.    / 
Azure,  a  stag's  head  erased  at  the  neck  proper. 

3.  Argent,  on  a  mount  vert  three  trees  of  the  last.^^^--— 

4.  Or,  a  wall  embattled  gules,  pierced  by  two  em- 
brasures. 

Crest — A  sun  in  its  splendour  or,  between  two 
wings  per  fess  or  and  azure  (wings  displayed). 

The  family  later  spread  to  England, 
where  it  is  numbered  among  the  county 
families.  Descendants  of  this  family  are 
to  be  found  in  different  parts  of  America. 
The  family  numbers  many  men  of  scien- 
tific attainments  and  women  of  great 
mentality. 

(I)  Ewalt,    the    first    of    this 


165 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


family  to  come  to  America,  was  from  Ger- 
many. He  came  to  America  and  settled 
in  Morristown,  New  Jersey.  His  wife, 
whose  name  is  unknown,  was  a  native  of 
Ireland. 

(II)  Jacob  Ewalt,  son  of  above,  was  a 
farmer,  and  lived  near  Cooper's  creek, 
edge  of  Camden,  New  Jersey.  He  mar- 
ried Abigail  Higby,  and  they  were  the 
parents   of  children. 

(III)  John  Ewalt,  son  of  Jacob  and 
Abigail  (Higby)  Ewalt,  was  born  near 
Camden,  New  Jersey,  February  n,  1776. 
He  married  Rebecca  Ewalt,  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania,  not  related,  al- 
though having  the  same  name.  She  was 
a  daughter  of  Samuel  Ewalt,  soldier  with 
Braddock,  and  in  the  Revolutionary  War, 
an  Indian  fighter  and  scout,  the  first  sher- 
iff of  Allegheny  county,  and  the  owner 
of  the  land  on  which  the  arsenal  used  to 
stand.  Samuel  Ewalt  married  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  Harris,  who  founded  the  city 
of  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania.  John  and 
Rebecca  (Ewalt)  Ewalt  were  the  parents 
of  ten  children. 

(IV)  Abigail  Ewalt,  fourth  child  of 
John  and  Rebecca  (Ewalt)  Ewalt,  was 
born  near  Warren,  Ohio,  August  2,  1808, 
and  died  October  27,  1886.  On  October 
15,  1828,  she  became  the  wife  of  Edwy 
Wainwright. 


WAINWRIGHT,  John  E., 

Public-Spirited  Citizen. 

There  are  men  whose  memories  are  al- 
ways green  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
knew  them ;  whose  personalities  are  so 
vivid  that  the  recollection  of  them  is 
fadeless  ;  men  of  whom  we  cannot  say, 
"They  are  dead,"  because  their  life  still 
throbs  in  the  hearts  that  loved  them.  To 
this  class  of  men  belonged  the  late  John 
E.  Wainwright,  for  many  years  prom- 
inent in  business  and  social  circles  in 
Pittsburgh. 


John  Ewalt  Wainwright  was  born  in 
the  Fifteenth  Ward,  Pittsburgh,  Pennsyl- 
vania, October  30,  1862,  son  of  the  late 
Samuel  Jacob  and  Mary  Frances  (Benn) 
Wainwright.  (See  account  of  the  Wain- 
wright family,  together  with  biography 
and  portrait  of  Samuel  J.  Wainwright). 

John  E.  Wainwright  received  his  educa- 
tion in  public  and  private  schools  of  his 
city,  after  which  he  entered  the  employ 
of  his  father,  and  after  the  death  of  the 
father,  he  was  connected  with  the  Wain- 
wright interests.  Upon  entering  business 
he  speedily  gave  evidence  of  having  in- 
herited the  great  business  ability  of  his 
father,  and  in  his  conduct  of  affairs  was 
most  successful.  Mr.  Wainwright  was 
a  director  of  the  Arsenal  Bank,  and  was 
a  member  of  the  Order  of  Elks,  Lodge 
No.  11. 

As  a  citizen,  Mr.  Wainwright  was  in- 
tensely public-spirited,  never  refusing  the 
support  of  his  influence  and  means  to  any 
project  which  in  his  judgment  tended  to 
advance  the  welfare  of  Pittsburgh.  He 
was  a  Republican  in  politics,  and  served 
a  term  in  the  Common  Council  in  1906. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
church. 

To  almost  every  resident  of  the 
Fifteenth  Ward,  John  E.  Wainwright's 
name  was  familiar.  He  was  known  as 
the  ward's  philanthropist.  The  school 
children  received  the  news  of  his  death 
with  profound  sorrow,  for  to  all  of  them 
he  was  a  most  devoted  patron.  At  the 
close  of  every  school  term  he  always  sup- 
plied every  school  child  with  candy, 
handkerchiefs  and  money,  and  at  the  an- 
nual school  picnic  he  did  all  possible  to 
aid  in  giving  the  children  a  royal  time. 
He  was  truly  a  man  of  many  charities, 
and  his  friends  were  legion. 

The  personality  of  John  E.  Wainwright 
was  singularly  attractive.  His  every  ac- 
tion was  inspired  by  a  sense  of  justice 
and  he  was  ever  prepared  to  meet  obli- 


166 


^^^^^ 


.   :  . 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


gations,  whatever  their  character,  with 
the  confidence  and  courage  born  of  con- 
scious ability  and  rectitude.  His  mind 
was  both  original  and  vivacious,  and  he 
possessed  a  personal  magnetism  which 
drew  men  to  him.  He  was  certainly  one 
of  those  whose  mission  it  is  to  add  to 
the  sunshine  of  the  world.  For  some 
years  ere  his  death  Mr.  Wainwright 
spent  much  time  in  travel,  and  he  later 
built  a  handsome  country  home  near  Kit- 
tanning,  where  an  open-handed  hospital- 
ity ruled. 

In  the  prime  of  life  and  in  the  full  ma- 
turity of  his  powers,  John  Ewalt  Wain- 
wright closed  his  career  of  usefulness  and 
beneficence,  passing  away  February  16, 
1907.  His  death  deprived  Pittsburgh  of 
an  able,  aggressive  business  man  and  a 
far-sighted,  disinterested  citizen,  and  left 
a  vacancy  never  to  be  filled  in  the  hearts 
of  his  many  friends. 


KANE,  John  E., 

Real  Estate  Operator. 

Now  and  then  we  meet  a  man  so  strong 
in  character,  so  vivid  in  personality  and 
so  richly  endowed  with  forceful  and 
executive  talents  that  it  seems  well-nigh 
impossible,  when  he  passes  from  the 
scene  of  his  activities,  that  he  has,  indeed, 
vanished  forever  from  our  sight.  Such 
a  man  was  the  late  John  E.  Kane,  presi- 
dent of  the  Pittsburgh  Realty  Board  and 
one  of  the  best  known  real  estate  men  in 
the  United  States.  From  the  outset  of 
his  career  Mr.  Kane  had  been  identified 
with  realty  affairs,  and  was  regarded  as 
one  of  the  highest  authorities  on  every- 
thing pertaining  to  the  business.  John 
E.  Kane  was  born  December  31,  1874,  in 
the  borough  of  Lawrenceville,  and  was  a 
son  of  Patrick  and  Mary  (Byrne)  Kane. 
His  father  was  the  first  agent  of  the 
Adams  Express  Company  in  Pittsburgh, 


and  was  later  engaged  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits in  that  city,  where  he  also  served 
as  director  in  several  local  banks  and 
other  corporations. 

The  education  of  John  E.  Kane  was 
received  at  parochial  schools,  Pittsburgh 
Catholic  College,  now  Duquesne  Univer- 
sity, where  he  graduated  in  1890.  He  did 
not  at  once  enter  the  business  arena,  but 
obtained  the  position  of  private  secretary 
for  Henry  Phipps.  The  death  of  Mr. 
Kane's  father  occurred  November  26, 
1901,  and  his  estate  passed  into  the  keep- 
ing of  his  son.  It  was  thus  that  John 
E.  Kane  became  identified  with  the  busi- 
ness in  connection  with  which  he  was  to 
achieve  a  national  reputation.  His  excep- 
tional fitness  for  it  speedily  became  appar- 
ent and  his  rise  into  prominence  was  re- 
markably rapid.  He  filled  the  position  of 
treasurer  of  the  Realty  Board,  and  also 
served  as  secretary  of  the  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Real  Estate  Boards,  his  con- 
nection with  this  organization  giving  him 
an  acquaintance  with  representatives  of 
the  business  throughout  the  United 
States  and  Canada.  Mr.  Kane  was  also 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  National 
Real  Estate  Journal.  On  February  12, 
1917,  he  was  elected  president  of  the 
Pittsburgh  Realty  Board  as  the  unani- 
mous choice  of  the  governors,  and  the 
manner  in  which  he  discharged  the  duties 
of  the  office  during  the  all  too  brief  period 
of  his  tenure  more  than  justified  them  in 
their  selection.  As  president  of  Pitts- 
burgh Real  Estate  Board,  he  offered 
gratuitously  to  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment the  services  of  the  appraisal 
committee,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  to 
fix  the  price  of  Neville  Island  and  any 
other  property  they  should  find  necessary 
to  acquire.  This  offer  was  accepted  by 
the  United  States.  Mr.  Kane  was  a 
member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Pittsburgh  Ath- 


167 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


letic  Association,  the  Pittsburgh  Country- 
Club,  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  secretary 
of  the  advisory  board  of  the  Duquesne 
University,  and  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Managers  of  St.  Mary's  and  Calvary 
cemeteries.  He  was  born,  reared,  lived 
and  died  in  the  faith  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic church,  and  worshiped  at  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral  in  Pittsburgh,  of  which  he  was 
a  member. 

In  combination  with  business  abilities 
of  no  common  order,  Mr.  Kane  possessed 
a  singularly  attractive  personality,  and  to 
this  he  owed  in  a  secondary  sense  his 
extraordinary  success.  While  his  in- 
tellect and  executiveness  commanded 
respect  and  compelled  admiration  and 
compliance,  his  magnetism  won  the  hearts 
of  those  with  whom  he  had  to  deal,  giv- 
ing him  an  influence  over  the  actions  and 
motives  of  men  which  accounted  in  part 
for  his  record  of  accomplishment.  In 
addition  to  this  he  had  the  foresight  with- 
out some  measure  of  which  no  man  can 
hope  to  succeed  in  business.  No  one 
could  discern  more  quickly  and  unerr- 
ingly than  he  the  dormant  possibilities  of 
real  estate,  the  consequences  of  their 
development  and  the  general  trend  of 
affairs.  In  appraisals  and  valuations  of 
local  property  he  was  regarded  as  an 
expert,  and  on  the  subject  of  taxation  he 
was  a  recognized  authority.  In  legisla- 
tion bearing  upon  taxation  Mr.  Kane  took 
an  active  interest,  and  at  national  con- 
ventions of  real  estate  brokers  he  took  a 
prominent  part  in  discussions  relating  to 
realty  matters,  one  of  the  many  gifts  with 
which  Nature  had  endowed  him  being 
facility  in  public  speaking  and  forceful- 
ness  in  argument.  His  personal  popular- 
ity might  be  said  to  be  international,  for 
not  only  was  he  known  but  he  was  cor- 
dially and  sincerely  liked.  His  features 
were  clearly-cut,  strong  and  refined,  his 
expression    reflected    the    disposition   we 


have  feebly  endeavored  to  describe,  and 
his  manner,  dignified,  courteous  and  gen- 
ial, was  that  of  the  true  gentleman. 

Mr.  Kane  never  married,  but  resided 
with  his  widowed  mother,  the  tie  be- 
tween whom  and  himself  was  strong  to 
a  degree  rarely  found  even  between  moth- 
ers and  sons  regarded  as  models  of 
mutual  affection.  By  this  mother,  who  so 
richly  merited  the  devotion  of  her  chil- 
dren, by  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  Mr. 
Kane,  by  their  numerous  friends  and  by 
the  general  public  the  highest  hopes  were 
entertained  in  regard  to  the  future  of  a 
career  which  seemed  to  have  not  yet 
reached  its  zenith.  Great,  indeed,  was 
the  shock  to  family  and  friends,  as  well 
as  to  the  community,  when  on  July  i, 
1918,  Mr.  Kane  passed  away,  in  the 
prime  of  life  and  in  the  full  tide  of  activ- 
ity and  usefulness.  Profound  and  wide- 
spread, however,  as  was  the  mourning  for 
what  seemed  his  premature  departure, 
there  was  also  a  feeling  of  thankfulness 
for  what  he  had  been  permitted  to  accom- 
plish and  for  the  example  he  had  left. 

John  E.  Kane  was  a  brilliantly  success- 
ful man  of  affairs,  and  he  was  also  a  de- 
voted son,  an  affectionate  brother  and  a 
true  friend.  Multitudes  at  home,  and 
many  in  distant  parts  of  the  land  will  long 
remember  him,  and  his  record  is  incorpor- 
ated in  the  annals  of  his  native  city,  but 
his  memory  is  enduringly  cherished  in  the 
hearts  of  those  who  loved  him  and  who 
will  forever  hold  him  dear. 


SCHMID,  Harry  D., 

Representative  Citizen. 

No  business  man,  even  in  Pittsburgh, 
that  center  of  aggressiveness,  is  more 
alert  to  opportunity  than  Harry  D. 
Schmid,  founder  and  president  of  the 
Fort  Pitt  Lithographing  Company  and 
also  connected  with  other  commercial  in- 


O^&Za 


v~-f^^ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


terests  of  the  Metropolis.  Mr.  Schmid  is 
well  known  in  club  circles,  takes  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  affairs  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  and  is  active  in  church  work 
and  philanthropic  enterprises.  Harry  D. 
Schmid  was  born  July  23,  1865,  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  is  a  son  of  Gottlob  C.  and 
Magdeline  (Medinger)  Schmid. 

Harry  D.  Schmid  received  his  educa- 
tion in  public  and  private  schools  of  his 
native  city,  and  early  in  life  manifested 
an  inclination  toward  the  making  of 
books.  Following  this  natural  bent  he 
began  his  business  career  with  the  old 
Oxford  Bookbinding  Company  of  Phil- 
adelphia, passing  through  every  depart- 
ment and  becoming  thoroughly  familiar 
with  each  branch  of  the  business.  In  1893 
he  came  to  Pittsburgh,  associating  him- 
self with  the  firm  of  W.  G.  Johnston  & 
Company.  Within  a  short  space  of  time 
he  decided  to  take  up  lithography,  going 
to  Baltimore  to  pursue  his  studies,  and 
soon  became  an  expert  in  his  chosen  pro- 
fession. In  1908  Mr.  Schmid  returned  to 
Pittsburgh  and  organized  the  Fort  Pitt 
Lithographing  Company,  beginning  in  a 
very  modest  way.  The  result  testified 
alike  to  his  sound  conservation  and  his 
sterling  aggressiveness.  Under  his  skill- 
ful guidance  the  enterprise  grew  apace 
and  is  now  one  of  the  leading  concerns  of 
its  kind  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  being 
equipped  to  handle  all  the  finest  classes 
of  work  and  having  a  high  standing  both 
in  the  sphere  of  commerce  and  in  that  of 
finance.  The  company's  place  of  busi- 
ness is  on  Forbes  street,  and  is  under  the  . 
immediate  personal  supervision  of  its 
founder. 

In  the  general  business  life  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Mr.  Schmid  has  always  taken  an 
active  part,  and  as  a  citizen  he  is  ever 
earnestly  helpful  in  all  that  tends  to  fur- 
ther amelioration  of  conditions.  His 
clubs  are  the  Rotary,  the  Pittsburgh  Ad 


and  others,  and  he  likewise  belongs  to  the 
Pittsburgh  Credit  Men's  Association.  He 
affiliates  with  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and 
is  known  as  a  leader  in  that  body.  His 
association  with  church  work  and  benevo- 
lent enterprises  is  unfailingly  energetic 
and  fruitful,  and  causes  him  to  be  counted 
on  in  affairs  conducted  under  religious 
auspices.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Episco- 
pal church.  That  Mr.  Schmid  is  abun- 
dantly endowed  with  initiative  is  a  fact 
plainly  set  forth  in  his  record,  as  are  also 
the  variety  of  his  interests  and  the  liber- 
ality of  his  sentiments.  Of  his  appearance 
it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  no  one  could 
look  at  him  and  take  him  for  other  than 
he  is — a  live  wire,  not  only  in  business 
but  in  everything  that  he  undertakes,  and 
withal  warm-hearted  and  loyal,  con- 
stantly adding  to  the  number  of  his 
friends,  but  never  dropping  any  from  the 
list. 

On  October  8,  1901,  Mr.  Schmid  mar- 
ried Bertha,  daughter  of  Frederick  W. 
Stein,  of  Pittsburgh,  and  they  are  the 
parents  of  one  child,  Bertha  Emily. 

Harry  D.  Schmid  is  one  of  the  "com- 
ing men"  of  Pittsburgh.  The  present 
city  knows  him  and  with  the  lapse  of 
each  succeeding  year  the  Capital  of  the 
Industrial  World  will  become  increas- 
ingly familiar  with  his  work  and  its 
results. 


BALLINGER,  Walter  F., 

Architect,  Engineer. 

Walter  F.  Ballinger,  architect  and 
engineer,  was  born  in  Petroleum  Center, 
Pennsylvania,  August  13,  1867,  a  son  of 
the  late  Jacob  H.  and  Sarah  (Wolfenden) 
Ballinger.  He  is  now  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Ballinger  &  Perrot,  with  offices  in 
the  Wesley  building,  Philadelphia,  and 
Marbridge  building,  New  York. 

His  father,  who  owned  and  operated  a 


169 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


machine  shop  in  the  oil  regions,  died  when 
Walter  F.  was  two  years  old,  leaving  his 
mother  and  three  children  who,  after  a 
brief  interval,  moved  to  Woodstown, 
New  Jersey,  where  they  lived  for  twelve 
years.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  and  one- 
half  years,  Walter  F.  left  school  to  work 
on  his  cousin's  farm  and  later  in  a  fac- 
tory. Promotion  in  the  factory,  due  to 
his  ability  in  certain  practical  work  in- 
volving computations,  inspired  him  to 
continue  his  education,  and  he  succes- 
sively attended  night  sessions  of  the  local 
grammar  school,  technical  school,  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  and  Drexel 
Institute.  Having  saved  enough  money 
for  tuition,  he  entered  a  business  college, 
supplementing  his  studies  by  a  course  in 
shorthand  and  typewriting,  later  securing 
positions  in  the  offices  of  a  manufactur- 
ing establishment,  a  lawyer,  and  a  coal 
dealer.  In  1889  he  entered  the  office  of 
Geissinger  &  Hales,  then  prominent 
architects  and  engineers  of  Philadelphia, 
at  the  same  time  continuing  his  studies 
at  Drexel  Institute  and  the  International 
Correspondence  School,  thereby  applying 
in  daily  practice  the  theoretical  knowledge 
secured  at  night.  Upon  the  retirement  of 
Mr.  Geissinger  from  the  firm,  a  partner- 
ship under  the  name  of  Hales  &  Ballinger 
was  formed  in  1894.  Six  years  later,  Mr. 
Hales  in  turn  retired  and  Mr.  Emile  G. 
Perrot,  a  graduate  of  the  School  of  Archi- 
tecture, University  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
former  head  draftsman,  was  admitted  into 
the  firm,  since  known  as  Ballinger  &  Per- 
rot. In  the  design  and  construction  of 
commercial  and  institutional  buildings, 
industrial  plants,  etc.,  including  mechani- 
cal equipment,  this  firm  has  made  an 
enviable  reputation,  including  in  their 
clientele  many  of  the  largest  and  most 
successful  industrial  enterprises  and  char- 
itable institutions. 

During  the  war,  the  firm  of  Ballinger 
&  Perrot  devoted  its  attentions   largely 


to  Government  projects,  including  Union 
Park  Gardens,  at  Wilmington,  Delaware ; 
a  Garden  City  to  house  shipworkers ;  im- 
provements and  additions  to  the  United 
States  Gas  Defense  Plant,  Long  Island 
City,  New  York,  in  addition  to  consider- 
able building  and  equipment  work  for 
war  industries  and  essential  food  pro- 
ducts. Included  among  the  larger  and 
more  noteworthy  institutional  and  indus- 
trial buildings  for  which  Ballinger  &  Per- 
rot were  the  architects  and  engineers  are 
the  following:  Methodist  Home  for  the 
Aged,  Philadelphia;  St.  Mary's  Hospital, 
Philadelphia ;  Villa  Maria  Academy,  Fra- 
zer,  Pennsylvania ;  St.  Michael's  Boys' 
Industrial  School,  Whites  Ferry,  Penn- 
sylvania ;  Western  Theological  Seminary 
(Presbyterian)  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania; 
Victor  Talking  Machine  Company,  Cam- 
den, New  Jersey ;  The  Joseph  Campbell 
Company  (Soups),  Camden,  New  Jersey; 
Edward  G.  Budd  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Philadelphia ;  Strawbridge  &  Cloth- 
ier Warehouse,  Philadelphia ;  New  York 
Consolidated  Card  Company,  Long  Island 
City,  New  York;  National  Casket  Com- 
pany, Long  Island  City,  New  York;  John 
K.  Stewart  (Motor  Starter  Corporation), 
Long  Island  City,  New  York. 

Mr.  Ballinger  is  affiliated  with  the  Ger- 
mantown  and  Chestnut  Hill  Improve- 
ment Association,  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Social  Union  of  Philadelphia  and 
vicinity,  of  both  of  which  he  is  an  ex- 
president  ;  the  board  of  temperance,  pro- 
hibition and  public  morals  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  church,  and  a  trustee  of  • 
the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of 
Germantown,  and  for  a  number  of  years 
was  superintendent  of  a  Mission  Sunday 
school.  The  City,  Engineers'  and  the 
Manufacturers'  clubs,  and  the  Franklin 
Institute,  all  of  Philadelphia ;  the  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  the  Amer- 
ican Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
the  Philadelphia  Chamber  of  Commerce, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  Bor- 
ough of  Queens,  New  York  City,  and  the 
Camden  Board  of  Trade,  number  him 
among  their  most  active  members.  In 
addition  he  serves  on  the  executive  and 
fire  resistive  committees  of  the  National 
Fire  Protection  Association,  is  a  manager 
of  the  Seamen's  Friend  Society,  and  is 
interested  in  numerous  charitable  organi- 
zations. He  is  a  member  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Americans ;  Melita 
Lodge,  No.  295,  Free  and  Accepted  Ma- 
sons ;  Melita  Chapter,  No.  284,  Royal 
Arch  Masons ;  Philadelphia  Consistory, 
thirty-second  degree,  and  Lu  Lu  Temple, 
Ancient  Arabic  Order  Nobles  Mystic 
Shrine,  of  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Ballinger  has  always  been  an 
ardent  exponent  of  civic  improvement 
and  righteousness,  being  found  in  the 
forefront  of  all  sincere  reform  move- 
ments. Through  his  experiences  and  ob- 
servations as  a  practical,  wide-awake 
business  man,  his  interest  became  keenly 
aroused  to  the  close  affiliation  of  the  evil 
of  drink  to  the  evils  of  society  and  poli- 
tics in  its  detrimental  effect  upon  busi- 
ness progress  and  social  welfare.  As  a 
consequence,  he  became  an  aggressive 
worker  in  the  cause  of  prohibition,  and  in 
politics  an  Independent  Republican. 

In  1897  Mr.  Ballinger  married  Bessie 
M.  Cornell,  two  years  preceding  the  death 
of  his  mother.  His  daughter,  Grace 
Agnes  Ballinger,  is  a  student  at  Swarth- 
more  College,  Swarthmore,  Pennsylvania, 
and  an  adopted  son,  Robert  Irving  Bal- 
linger, twenty-six  years  of  age,  is  in  the 
employ  of  the  firm  as  superintendent  of 
construction. 


PERROT,  Emile  George, 

Business   Man,  Inventor. 

In  two  hemispheres  the  name  of  Emile 
George     Perrot,    of     the    internationally 


known  firm  of  Ballinger  &  Perrot  of  Phil- 
adelphia, is  synonymous  with  architec- 
tural achievement  in  different  fields  and 
under  varying  conditions.  In  his  home 
city  Mr.  Perrot's  name  stands  for  helpful 
identification  with  her  leading  interests 
and  for  endeavor  in  behalf  of  everything 
vital  to  her  truest  progress. 

Emile  George  Perrot  was  born  Novem- 
ber 12,  1872,  in  Philadelphia,  and  is  a 
son  of  the  late  Emile  Raphael  and  Ga- 
brielle  (Perodi)  Perrot,  and  a  grandson  of 
August  M.  Perrot  who,  as  a  young  man, 
came  from  Bordeaux,  France,  to  the 
United  States,  settling  in  Philadelphia. 
August  M.  Perrot  was  a  well-known  musi- 
cian and  composer  and  for  several  years 
was  superintendent  of  music  in  the  Phila- 
delphia public  schools,  making  a  specialty 
of  Solfiggio,  being  the  author  of  the  "Per- 
rot System  of  Singing  by  Sight."  The 
late  Emile  Raphael  Perrot  was  a  graduate 
of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy, 
and  as  a  young  man  was  proprietor  of  a 
drug  store  on  Chestnut  street.  He  later 
gave  up  business  and  became  teacher  of 
French  in  several  of  the  private  schools  in 
Philadelphia,  as  well  as  engaged  in  the 
teaching  of  French  privately. 

Emile  George  Perrot  received  his  earli- 
est education  in  the  public  school,  and 
from  that  he  passed  to  private  schools, 
His  attendance  at  these  was  followed  by 
an  architectural  course  at  the  Franklin  In- 
stitute, from  which  he  graduated  in  1890. 
He  then  became  an  apprentice  in  the  arch- 
itectural office  of  George  Plowman,  the 
designer  of  many  of  Philadelphia's  thea- 
ters, and  on  completing  his  term  obtained 
a  position  as  architectural  designer  for  a 
builder  in  Philadelphia.  After  retaining 
this  position  for  two  years  Mr.  Perrot 
associated  himself  with  P.  A.  Welsh  and 
Edward  F.  Durang  as  a  student  of  archi- 
tecture, and  afterward  took  a  special 
course  in  the  School  of  Architecture,  Uni- 


171 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


versity  of  Pennsylvania,  graduating  in 
1895,  obtaining  a  certificate  of  proficiency 
and  receiving  "Special  Commendation," 
which  is  equivalent  to  being  honor  man  of 
his  class.  This  distinction  was  the  first  of 
its  kind  issued  by  this  school  of  architec- 
ture. 

After  graduating,  Mr.  Perrot  became 
head  draughtsman  for  Hales  &  Ballinger, 
architects  and  engineers,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  in  1898  was  given  an  interest  in  the 
firm.  In  July,  1901,  he  became  junior 
partner,  and  in  1903  full  partner,  the  style 
of  the  firm  being  changed  to  Ballinger  & 
Perrot,  and  so  remaining  to  the  present 
day.  A  biography  and  portrait  of  Mr. 
Ballinger  precedes  this  in  the  work.  The 
firm  has  attained  a  commanding  position 
in  its  line,  being  one  of  the  best  known  in 
the  Eastern  United  States.  It  has  filled 
many  contracts  for  the  Victor  Talking 
Machine  Company  and  for  the  shipping 
board  of  the  United  States  government  at 
Wilmington,  Delaware,  having  been  ap- 
pointed both  architects  and  engineers  for 
the  Industrial  Village  known  as  "Union 
Park  Gardens."  It  has  been  extensively 
employed  by  the  Duplan  Silk  Company, 
of  Paris,  France,  erecting  for  them,  in 
Pennsylvania,  two  large  plants,  and  it  has 
also  constructed  plants  in  Pennsylvania 
for  the  firm  of  Andrew  Martin,  of  Lyons, 
France.  The  firm  has  built  plants  for  the 
Viscose  Company,  a  subsidary  concern  of 
Courtaulds,  Limited,  of  England.  For 
this  widely-known  organization  they  have 
constructed,  at  Marcus  Hook,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Roanoke,  Va.,  large  artificial 
silk  manufacturing  plants,  the  largest  in 
the  United  States,  and  they  have  also 
designed  and  built  for  them,  at  Marcus 
Hook,  a  model  industrial  village.  In  all 
these  extensive  and  important  undertak- 
ings the  architectural  and  structural  engi- 
neering features  came  directly  under  Mr. 
Perrot's  personal  supervision. 


As  an  inventor  Mr.  Perrot  has  achieved 
international  recognition,  having  for  some 
years  held  patents  in  the  United  States, 
Canada,  France,  Belgium  and  England  for 
his  invention  of  the  Unit  Girder  Frame 
System  of  Reenforced  Concrete.  Some 
time  ago  these  were  disposed  of  to  a  syn- 
dicate. In  association  with  Mr.  Ballinger 
he  invented  an  enclosure  for  vestibules  of 
tower  fire  escapes,  and  he  has  also  pat- 
ented an  invention  for  life-boat  launching. 
As  a  contributor  to  the  literature  of  his 
profession  Mr.  Perrot  is  widely  known. 
He  is  associate  editor  of  Kidder's  "Archi- 
tect and  Builder  Pocket  Book,"  and  for 
the  last  twelve  years  has  lectured  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  on  reenforced 
concrete  and  its  uses.  He  is  joint  author 
with  Mr.  Ballinger  of  Ballinger  &  Perrot's 
"Inspector's  Handbook  of  Reenforced  Con- 
crete," a  work  which  has  had  a  wide  sale 
among  builders.  Mr.  Perrot  is  a  licensed 
architect  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey, 
and  the  firm  maintains  offices  not  only  in 
Philadelphia,  but  also  in  New  York  City. 

In  politics  Mr.  Perrot  is  an  Independ- 
ent. He  is  a  member  of  the  Philadelphia 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Camden 
Board  of  Trade,  and  he  belongs  to  the 
American  Society  of  Testing  Materials, 
the  National  Fire  Protective  Association, 
the  National  Housing  Association  and  the 
City  Parks  Association,  also  the  Illum- 
inating Engineering  Society.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Franklin  Institute  and  the 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  hold- 
ing in  the  latter  full  membership.  He  also 
belongs  to  the  American  Concrete  Insti- 
tute and  the  Catholic  Historical  Society. 
His  clubs  are  the  Manufacturers',  City, 
Engineers',  Hazelton  and  the  Auto  Club 
of  Philadelphia.  Still  another  of  the  pro- 
fessional organizations  to  which  he  be- 
longs is  the  American  City  Planning  Insti- 
tute. He  is  a  member  of  Gesu  Roman 
Catholic  Church  of  Philadelphia,  and  of 


172 


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ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


the  Knights  of  Columbus.  He  is  a  direc- 
tor of  the  Philadelphia  Military  Training 
Corps. 

His  record  shows  Mr.  Perrot  as  he  is,  a 
man  of  quiet  force,  accomplishing  large 
results  with  the  least  possible  amount  of 
friction  and  then  leaving  his  work  to 
speak  for  itself.  His  own  reputation  and 
that  of  his  firm  is  steadily  increasing  and 
the  prospects  of  achievement  which  the 
future  opens  before  them  are  constantly 
widening.  His  capability  for  business 
successes  is  equalled  by  his  faculty  for 
making  and  holding  friends.  Of  his  per- 
sonal appearance  it  is  unnecessary  to 
speak,  for  his  portrait,  no  less  than  his 
biography,  should  be  grouped  with  that 
of  his  partner. 

Mr.  Perrot  married,  June  10,  1896,  Ag- 
nes A.,  daughter  of  James  and  Margaret 
(Kelly)  Robb,  of  Philadelphia,  and  they 
are  the  parents  of  the  following  children : 
Joseph  E.,  born  November  20,  1897;  Mary 
M.,  Agnes  G.,  Frances,  Margaret  D., 
Emile  George,  born  July  7,  1907,  and  Paul 
John,  born  January  15,  1912.  Mrs.  Perrot 
is  a  tactful  hostess  and  a  charming  home- 
maker,  and  her  husband  is  never  so  happy 
as  when  surrounded  by  the  members  of 
his  household  and  the  inner  circle  of  his 
friends. 

The  work  of  Emile  George  Perrot  is  not 
for  a  day  nor  even  for  a  generation,  nor 
does  it  exist  only  in  his  own  city,  or  his 
own  State,  for  it  is  found  in  other  States 
as  well  as  in  his  own,  and  everything  indi- 
cates that  the  coming  years  will  witness 
ever-multiplying  developments  of  its 
many  possibilities. 


POWELL,  John  R., 

Financier,  Manufacturer. 

John  R.  Powell,  president  of  the  Ply- 
mouth National  Bank  of  Plymouth,  Penn- 
sylvania,  pioneer  squib   manufacturer  of 


the  United  States,  and  for  many  years 
closely  associated  with  the  business  and 
industrial  interests  of  this  region,  whose 
death  on  July  24,  1918,  was  felt  as  a 
severe  loss  by  the  entire  community,  was 
a  native  of  Wales,  having  been  born  at 
Pendarren,  Glamorganshire,  South  Wales, 
May  6,  1847. 

The  first  eighteen  years  of  his  life  were 
spent  in  his  native  land,  where  he  gained 
his  education,  but  in  1865  he  came  to  the 
United  States  and  resided  for  a  short 
time  at  Hubbard,  Ohio.  From  there  he 
removed  to  Illinois  and  then,  returning 
East,  resided  for  a  time  at  Wilkes-Barre, 
Pennsylvania.  In  1871  he  came  to  Ply- 
mouth, and  in  1878  he  founded  a  squib 
factory  and  began  the  manufacture  of 
the  squibs  used  in  mining  throughout  this 
country.  His  plant  being  one  of  the  first 
to  manufacture  an  article  in  such  general 
use,  succeeded  from  the  outset  and  in 
time  he  had  built  up  a  very  large  and 
prosperous  business.  He  secured  his  first 
patent  in  the  year  1879,  and  since  that 
time  several  others  to  cover  various  modi- 
fications and  improvements  in  the  origi- 
nal article.  On  two  occasions  his  plant 
was  destroyed  by  fire,  but,  without  being 
discouraged,  he  rebuilt  it  on  a  still  larger 
scale  and  has  since  supplied  all  the  mar- 
kets of  the  country,  the  product  of  his 
plant  being  used  in  practically  every  coal 
mine  throughout  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  He  rapidly  secured  a  position 
in  the  community,  in  which  he  was  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  most  substantial  and 
successful  of  its  manufacturers,  and  he 
extended  his  interests  to  several  other 
types  of  enterprise  here.  Upon  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Plymouth  National  Bank, 
he  was  unanimously  elected  its  president, 
and  from  that  time  until  his  death  filled 
this  highly  responsible  office.  His  skill 
and  judgment,  combined  with  a  large 
grasp  of  the  financial  situation,  enabled 


73 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


him  to  place  the  Plymouth  Bank  in  the 
position  which  it  now  holds,  as  one  of  the 
foremost  in  the  State,  and  had  an  indirect 
influence  in  moulding  the  development  of 
this  entire  region. 

John  R.  Powell  was  one  of  the  three 
sons  of  Roger  and  Esther  (Evans)  Pow- 
ell, of  Pendarren,  Wales,  but  he  was  the 
only  member  of  his  family  to  come  to  the 
United  States.  He  married,  August  i, 
1872,  Anna  Jenkins,  a  native  of  Merthyr- 
Tydvil,  born  1855,  a  daughter  of  Thomas 
J.  and  Ruth  (Jones)  Jenkins,  being  de- 
scended on  both  sides  of  the  house  from 
Welsh  ancestors.  Mr.  Jenkins  was  a 
prominent  sculptor  and  resided  in  Ply- 
mouth for  many  years.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Powell  were  the  parents  of  three  chil- 
dren, as  follows :  Thomas  R.,  who  died 
in  the  year  1896,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two  ;  John,  who  died  in  infancy ;  and 
Esther,  born  March  22,  1877,  and  married, 
June  27,  1901,  John  H.  Williams,  one  of 
the  most  prominent  young  attorneys  in 
this  section  of  the  State,  whose  death 
occurred  March  20,  1910,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-three  years. 

John  H.  Williams  was  the  son  of  James 
and  Margaret  (Thomas)  Williams,  of 
Plymouth,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  the  local  public  school  and  at 
Wyoming  Seminary,  Kingston,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  was  prepared  for  college. 
He  then  entered  the  law  department  of 
Dickinson  College,  at  Carlisle,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  was  graduated  with  the  class 
of  1898.  He  was  an  unusually  brilliant 
young  man,  and  after  a  few  years  of  suc- 
cessful private  practice  was  elected  dis- 
trict attorney  of  Luzerne  county  on  the 
Republican  ticket  in  1909,  and  it  was 
while  his  term  of  office  was  still  unex- 
pired that  he  died,  one  of  the  youngest 
men  who  ever  held  that  post  here.  He 
was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Masonic 
order  and  of  the  Benevolent  and  Protec- 


tive Order  of  Elks,  and  in  spite  of  his 
youth  was  already  recognized  as  one  of 
the  important  factors  in  the  legal  and  po- 
litical life  of  this  section  of  the  State. 


BRYAN,  James, 

Consulting  Engineer. 

For  many  years  the  name  of  the  late 
James  Bryan,  of  Pittsburgh,  was  a  famil- 
iar one  in  different  parts  of  the  United 
States  as  that  of  a  consulting  engineer  of 
superior  abilities  whose  work,  wherever 
found,  was  of  the  greatest  excellence. 
Mr.  Bryan  was  prominent  not  only  in 
the  line  of  his  profession,  but  was  well 
known  in  the  social  life  of  the  Metropolis 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  affairs  of 
its  club  circles. 

James  Bryan  was  born  in  Preston,  Eng- 
land, October  13,  1861,  and  was  a  son  of 
Joseph  and  Isabella  (Hargraves)  Bryan. 
He  was  descended  from  a  long  line  of 
mechanics  and  engineers  and  chose  engi- 
neering as  his  profession,  receiving  a 
thorough  education  and  training  in  this 
while  a  youth  in  England,  and  he  came 
to  this  country  fully  equipped  to  grapple 
with  and  overcome  any  difficulties  that 
might  confront  him. 

Mr.  Bryan  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1888,  becoming  associated  with  the  Corliss 
Engine  Company  of  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  where  he  remained  four  years.  He 
was  then  associated  with  the  Thompson- 
Houston  Company  of  Lynn,  Massachu- 
setts, from  where  he  was  transferred  to 
the  Edison  General  Electric  Company  of 
Schenectady,  New  York.  Mr.  Bryan 
came  to  Pittsburgh  in  1896,  and  the  "Iron 
City"  was  destined  to  be  for  the  remain- 
der of  his  life  his  home  and  the  center  of 
his  interests.  In  his  profession  of  civil 
and  mechanical  engineering,  Mr.  Bryan 
was  a  specialist,  giving  the  greater  part 
of  his  attention  to  railroad  construction. 


'74 


Vsu/*&7Z — » 


^2^2--C^"~ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


He  was  the  engineer  of  several  local  lines 
including  the  Pittsburgh,  Harmony,  But- 
ler &  New  Castle  Railway,  on  which  line 
he  first  installed  his  most  noted  achieve- 
ment, namely,  his  conception  and  achieve- 
ment of  higher  direct-current  voltage,  this 
being  especially  adapted  to  inter-urban 
conditions,  but  was  found  so  practical  and 
successful  that  it  was  later  adopted  for 
both  inter-urban  and  trunk  line  electrifi- 
cation of  railways.  His  services  were  in 
demand,  and  in  1898  he  began  private 
practice  as  consulting  engineer,  and  he 
built  for  himself  an  undisputed  reputation 
for  fine  work  and  honest  methods.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, the  Union  Club,  the  Country  Club 
and  the  Engineers'  Society  of  Western 
Pennsylvania. 

From  politics  Mr.  Bryan  held  persist- 
ently aloof,  but  he  was  always  a  good, 
public-spirited  citizen,  willing  and  ready 
to  promote  whatever  promised  improve- 
ment. Mr.  Bryan  was  a  man  of  strong 
principle  and  kindly  disposition,  invaria- 
bly courteous  and  never  wanting  in  con- 
sideration for  the  rights  and  feelings  of 
others.  His  manners  were  dignified  and 
at  the  same  time  friendly,  and  he  looked 
unmistakably  the  true  gentleman  that  all 
knew  him  to  be. 

Mr.  Bryan  married  Agnes,  daughter  of 
Henry  and  Mary  (Procter)  Pearson,  and 
they  were  the  parents  of  the  following 
children:  1.  Bertha,  wife  of  Stanley  L. 
Rauch ;  they  have  one  son,  Stanley 
James  Rauch.  2.  James.  3.  Joseph,  mar- 
ried Marie  Ruth  Shaffner,  and  they  are 
the  parents  of  three  children:  Joseph, 
Jr.,  and  twins,  Marie  Ruth  and  Dorothy 
Agnes.  4.  Agnes,  wife  of  O.  K.  Sheri- 
dan; one  child,  John  Kimball  Sheridan, 
has  been  born  to  them.  5.  May,  wife  of 
Victor  A.  Williams,  a  physician  of  Pitts- 
burgh. 6.  Isabella,  wife  of  A.  R.  Can- 
celliere,  and  they  have  one  child,  Agnes. 


7.  Florence,  at  home.  Family  affection 
was  the  dominant  motive  of  Mr.  Bryan's 
life  and  in  his  wife  he  ever  found  a  true 
and  congenial  helpmate,  the  source  of  his 
home's  happiness  and  peace. 

For  some  time  previous  to  his  death 
Mr.  Bryan  was  in  failing  health  and 
sought  recuperation  in  the  climate  of 
Florida.  It  was,  however,  without  avail, 
and  on  February  20,  1918,  he  passed  away 
at  his  Pittsburgh  home.  As  a  business 
man,  friend  and  neighbor,  no  man  was 
ever  more  sincerely  mourned.  To  his 
family  the  bereavement  was  inexpressible. 

James  Bryan  rendered  valuable  service 
to  Pittsburgh,  inasmuch  as  he  helped  to 
build  the  roads  by  means  of  which  her 
products  are  conveyed  to  other  markets 
and  multitudes  are  enabled  to  flock  to 
her  factories  and  warehouses,  the  source 
and  center  of  the  world's  material  wealth. 
The  work  done  by  Mr.  Bryan  is  work 
that  will  live. 


STERRETT,  David, 

Lawyer,  Civil  War  Veteran. 

The  late  David  Sterrett,  of  Washing- 
ton, Pennsylvania,  whose  name,  as  a 
member  of  the  Pennsylvania  bar,  was  for 
more  than  a  third  of  a  century  a  synonym 
for  professional  ability  and  weight  of 
character,  maintained  throughout  a  long 
and  useful  life  a  reputation  fairly  earned 
and  most  richly  merited. 

David  Sterrett  was  born  August  30, 
1836,  at  Pine  Grove  Mills,  Center  county, 
Pennsylvania,  and  was  a  son  of  Timothy 
Green  and  Margaret  (McManigal)  Ster- 
rett, the  former  a  well-known  farmer  of 
that  region.  The  boy  received  his  earliest 
education  in  the  common  schools,  passing 
thence  to  the  Central  Academy,  Juniata 
county,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  was  pre- 
pared to  enter  the  Northwestern  Univer- 
sity, Evanston,  Illinois,  as  a  member  of 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


the  junior  class,  graduating  in  1862.  Im- 
mediately, as  was  often  the  case  in  that 
heroic  time,  the  student  became  a  soldier, 
passing  almost  directly  from  the  univer- 
sity to  the  battlefield.  On  August  12, 
1862,  David  Sterrett  enlisted  as  a  corporal 
in  Company  D,  One  Hundred  and  Thirty- 
first  Regiment,  Pennsylvania  Volunteer 
Infantry.  He  participated  in  the  battles 
of  Antietam,  Fredericksburg  and  Chan- 
cellorsville,  and  on  May  23,  1863,  was 
mustered  out  with  his  company,  having 
seen  nine  months  of  honorable  service. 

On  his  return  to  civil  life  the  young 
soldier  turned  his  attention  to  the  legal 
profession,  entering  upon  a  course  of 
study  at  Lewistown,  Pennsylvania.  In  No- 
vember, 1864,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
and  from  that  time  to  the  close  of  his  life 
was  continuously  engaged  in  practice.  Es- 
tablishing himself  first  at  Franklin,  Penn- 
sylvania, he  removed,  after  a  time,  to  Oil 
City  and  then  to  Smethport,  going  thence 
to  Washington,  all  these  places  being 
within  the  limits  of  his  native  State.  His 
professional  advancement  was  steady, 
innate  ability,  thorough  equipment  and 
integrity  which,  from  the  outset,  was 
never  questioned,  winning  for  him  pub- 
lic confidence  and  placing  him  in  posses- 
sion of  a  large  and  profitable  clientele. 

The  political  affiliations  of  Mr.  Ster- 
rett were  first  with  the  Republican  party, 
later  with  the  Prohibition  party,  and 
despite  the  fact  that  he  was  never  an 
office-seeker  his  fellow-citizens  gave  proof 
of  their  trust  in  him  by  electing  him  to 
represent  them  in  the  State  Legislature 
during  the  session  of  1883.  The  manner 
in  which  he  discharged  the  duties  thus 
imposed  upon  him  was  at  once  honorable 
to  himself  and  satisfactory  to  his  constit- 
uents. Ever  ready  to  respond  to  any  de- 
serving call  made  upon  him,  he  was  a 
liberal  but  extremely  unostentatious  giver 
to     charitable     enterprises     and     philan- 


thropic institutions.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Wash- 
ington. 

The  personality  of  Mr.  Sterrett  was 
essentially  that  of  the  true  lawyer.  His 
strong  and  cultivated  mind  was  the  legal 
mind,  and  he  possessed  to  an  unusual 
degree  that  judicial  instinct  without  which 
success  at  the  bar  is  an  impossibility. 
His  broad,  comprehensive  grasp  of  all 
questions  submitted  to  him  was  combined 
with  quickness  of  perception  and  depth 
of  insight.  His  countenance  was  stamped 
with  the  impress  of  the  qualities  which 
made  him  what  he  was  professionally, 
and  it  also  expressed  the  geniality  and 
kindness  which  surrounded  him  with 
friends.  His  bearing  and  manner  were 
alike  indicative  of  the  lawyer  and  the  gen- 
tleman. 

Mr.  Sterrett  married,  June  30,  1868,  in 
Pittsburgh,  Emma  Clarke,  daughter  of 
Dr.  Jeremiah  and  Martha  Clarke  (Bu- 
chanan) Brooks.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sterrett 
were  the  parents  of  the  following  chil- 
dren :  Martha  Buchanan ;  Charles  Clarke, 
born  October  1,  1870;  Rufus  Arthur,  born 
October  12,  1872;  Walter  Brooks,  born 
April  25,  1876;  Malcolm  Buchanan,  born 
February  26,  1878;  Marion;  and  Louis 
Emile,  born  July  12,  1883.  Happy  in  his 
domestic  relations  and  possessing  a  strong 
love  for  home  and  family,  Mr.  Sterrett 
was  always  most  content  when  at  his  own 
fireside  where  he  delighted  to  gather  his 
friends  about  him. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Sterrett,  which 
occurred  October  13,  1907,  deprived  the 
legal  profession  of  one  of  its  most  re- 
spected representatives  and  the  commun- 
ity of  one  of  its  most  valued  citizens.  The 
personal  loss  was  keenly  felt  by  many, 
for  he  was  a  loyal  friend  and  a  man  of 
whom  it  could  truthfully  be  said,  "his 
word  is  as  good  as  his  bond." 

The  prestige  of  the  bar  is  maintained 
76 


c^,/^ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


not  alone  by  the  men  of  brilliant  attain- 
ments and  oratorical  powers,  but  also,  to 
a  very  great  degree,  by  those  of  sound 
judgment,  clear  vision  and  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  law,  men  whose  talents 
are  solid  rather  than  showy  and  whose 
work  is  of  real  and  enduring  value.  A 
man  of  this  type  was  David  Sterrett. 


LEAF,  Edward  Bowman, 

Manufacturer. 


Edward  Bowman  Leaf  was  born  at 
Pottstown,  Pennsylvania,  March  3,  1866, 
son  of  the  late  Rev.  Edmund  and  Harriet 
Potts  (Clay)  Leaf.  His  education  was 
received  in  Hill  School,  Pottstown,  and 
at  Yale  University.  At  its  conclusion  he 
entered  business  in  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, as  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Potts  &  Leaf,  which  continued  until  1900. 
In  1900  Mr.  Leaf  withdrew  from  this  con- 
cern and  organized  the  firm  of  E.  B.  Leaf 
Company,  of  which  he  was  president, 
brokers  in  iron  and  steel.  By  his  aggres- 
siveness and  ability  he  soon  built  up  a 
large  business,  and  was  known  through- 
out the  State  as  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful men  of  his  line.  He  was  also  presi- 
dent of  the  Spring  City  Bloom  Works, 
and  a  director  of  the  Longmead  Iron 
Company,  of  Conshohocken,  Pennsyl- 
vania. Strong  mentality,  combined  with 
equally  strong  principle  and  much  fore- 
sight, might  be  said  to  explain  the  secret 
of  E.  Bowman  Leaf's  remarkable  success 
as  a  business  man.  Perhaps,  however,  his 
sunny  disposition,  which  attracted  to  him 
men  of  ''all  sorts  and  conditions"  had 
more  to  do  with  it  than  a  superficial  ob- 
server might  suppose.  He  was  a  rapid- 
fire  business  man,  and  back  of  it  and 
responsible  for  it  laid  vision,  quick  judg- 
ment and  the  capacity  to  execute  orders 
promptly.  The  concern  of  which  he  was 
Pa— 10— 12  177 


head  still  continues  the  business  under 
the  same  firm  name,  his  brother,  G.  Her- 
bert Leaf,  acting  as  president. 

It  was  with  the  Republicans  that  Mr. 
Leaf  cast  his  vote,  and  no  man  had  more 
at  heart  the  welfare  and  true  progress  of 
his  city,  but  office-holding  was  something 
for  which  he  had  neither  time  nor  inclina- 
tion. He  was  a  member  and  vestryman 
of  St.  Mary's  Church,  West  Philadelphia, 
the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  University  Club  and  the  Merion 
Cricket  Club. 

On  October  19,  1894,  Mr.  Leaf  married 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Richard  and  Emily 
(Whitecar)  Trenchard,  of  Bridgeton,  New 
Jersey,  and  they  became  the  parents  of 
two  daughters :  Harriet  Clay,  wife  of  G. 
Upton  Favorite,  and  the  mother  of  two 
children :  Elizabeth  Upton,  and  G.  Up- 
ton, Jr.,  born  September  20,  1917;  and 
Frances  Trenchard  Leaf.  The  union  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Leaf  was  one  of  kindred 
sympathies  and  congenial  dispositions, 
their  home  was  to  them  truly  the  dearest 
spot  on  earth  and  one  of  their  chief  de- 
lights was  the  exercise  of  hospitality. 

After  reviewing  the  narrative  of  all 
that  he  accomplished,  it  is  difficult  to  real- 
ize that  when  E.  Bowman  Leaf  passed 
away  he  was  but  forty-four  years  of  age. 
On  November  23,  1910,  he  expired,  hav- 
ing in  a  comparatively  short  space  of  time 
brought  to  pass  results  of  more  lasting 
and  substantial  benefit  to  himself  and  the 
community  than  many  achieve  in  a  long 
life-time.  He  caused  his  success  to  re- 
dound to  the  welfare  of  others  and  to 
increase  the  prosperity  of  Philadelphia 
and  Pennsylvania,  and  any  work  of  rec- 
ord setting  forth  the  achievements  of 
those  "Makers  of  Pennsylvania"  would 
naturally  have  to  contain  account  of  the 
life  and  achievements  of  E.  Bowman 
Leaf. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


HUTCHINSON,  S.  Pemberton, 

Man    of    Large    Affairs. 

Among  the  well-known  business  men 
of  Philadelphia  is  S.  Pemberton  Hutch- 
inson, president  and  director  of  The 
Westmoreland  Coal  Company,  and  offi- 
cially connected  with  various  other  en- 
terprises. 

Pemberton  Sydney  Hutchinson,  father 
of  S.  Pemberton  Hutchinson,  was  born 
February  15,  1836,  at  Cintra,  Portugal, 
while  his  father,  Israel  Pemberton  Hutch- 
inson, was  United  States  consul  to  Portu- 
gal ;  he  entered  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, 1854,  but  left  at  the  close  of  his 
freshman  year.  He  then  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business  in  Philadelphia,  the  firm 
being  P.  S.  Hutchinson  &  Company,  and 
later  became  president  of  The  Philadel- 
phia Savings  Fund  Society.  He  was  also 
a  director  of  The  Girard  Trust  Company ; 
director  in  the  Farmers'  and  Mechanics' 
National  Bank,  Penn  Mutual  Life  Insur- 
ance Company,  and  the  Philadelphia  Con- 
tributionship  ;  was  a  member  of  the  First 
Pennsylvania  Emergency  Regiment,  1862, 
and  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  So- 
ciety, Sons  of  the  American  Revolution. 
His  mother,  Margaretta  Hutchinson,  who 
died  March  25,  1849,  was  a  daughter  of 
Charles  Willing  and  Anne  (Emlen)  Hare, 
and  granddaughter  of  Robert  and  Mar- 
garet (Willing)  Hare.  Israel  Pemberton 
Hutchinson  died  May  9,  1866.  Pember- 
ton Sydney  Hutchinson  married,  June  5, 
i860,  Agnes  Wharton,  second  daughter  of 
George  Mifflin  and  Maria  (Markoe) 
Wharton-,- born  May  31,  1839,  and  they 
were  the  parents  of  the  following  chil- 
dren. 1.  Sydney  Pemberton,  see  below. 
2.  George  Wharton,  deceased.  3.  Syd- 
ney Emlen,  born  September  17,  1866, 
married  (first)  Olga  Bates ;  married  (sec- 
ond) Edith  Lewis  Stotesbury,  and  has 
issue.     4.  Cintra,  married  William  S.  El- 


lis, and  has  issue.  5.  Agnes  Wharton, 
married  Samuel  Lieberkuhn  Shober,  Jr., 
of  Philadelphia,  and  has  issue.  6.  Mar- 
garetta Willing,  married  John  C.  Stevens, 
and  has  issue.  The  death  of  Pemberton 
Sydney  Hutchinson  occurred  June  26, 
1903. 

S.  Pemberton  Hutchinson,  son  of  the 
late  Pemberton  Sydney  and  Agnes 
(Wharton)  Hutchinson,  was  born  April 
27,  1861,  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania. 
His  education  was  received  at  St.  Paul's 
School,  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  and  at 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  class  of 
1882.  He  left  the  University  before  grad- 
uation to  enter  the  service  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad.  He  remained  with  them 
from  November  1,  1881,  to  May  15,  1901, 
as  rodman,  assistant  supervisor,  super- 
visor, assistant  engineer,  division  super- 
intendent and  assistant  general  agent  in 
New  York.  From  May  15,  1901,  to 
March  1,  1902,  Mr.  Hutchinson  was  vice- 
president  of  the  El  Paso  and  Southwest- 
ern Railroad  Company  (the  railroad  sys- 
tem of  Phelps-Dodge  &  Company).  Was 
superintendent  of  the  Pittsburgh  Divi- 
sion of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad 
from  March  9,  1902,  to  December  1,  1902. 
Assistant  general  superintendent  and 
general  superintendent  of  Michigan  Cen- 
tral Railroad  from  December  15,  1902,  to 
November  15,  1905.  Partner  in  the  bank- 
ing firm  of  Cramp,  Mitchell  &  Shober, 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  December  1, 
1906,  to  January  1,  191 1.  Was  elected 
president  of  the  Westmoreland  Coal 
Company,  June  14,  1910,  which  position 
he  holds  to  the  present  time.  Mr.  Hutch- 
inson is  also  a  trustee  of  the  Penn  Mu- 
tual Life  Insurance  Company  ;  director  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Company  for  Insurance 
on  Lives  and  Granting  Annuities ;  direc- 
tor of  the  Philadelphia  National  Bank; 
director  of  the  Philadelphia  Contribu- 
tionship ;    manager   Philadelphia  Savings 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Fund  Society ;  director  of  the  Stonega 
Qjai^nd_CoJi£-Xornpany  ;  member  of  the 
executive  council,  Philadelphia  Board  of 
Trade ;  and  Inspector  of  County  Prisons. 
Politically  Mr.  Hutchinson  is  a  Republi- 
can, but  has  never  held  office.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society, 
Sons  of  the  Revolution ;  Philadelphia 
Club,  Rittenhouse  Club,  Philadelphia 
Country  Club,  of  Philadelphia ;  Metropol- 
itan Club,  of  Washington.  D.  C. ;  Du- 
quesne  Club,  of  Pittsburgh ;  and  Yan- 
dolega,  of  Detroit.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  the  Union  Club  of  New  York. 

On  April  13,  1887,  Mr.  Hutchinson 
married  Amy,  daughter  of  John  Thomp- 
son and  Maria  Litchfield  (Scott)  Lewis, 
of  Philadelphia,  and  they  have  children : 
1.  Sophie  Lewis,  wife  of  Henry  S. 
Drinker,  Jr.,  and  has  issue.  2.  Agnes 
Wharton,  wife  of  Lieutenant  George 
Whitney  Martin,  and  has  issue.  3.  Aimee, 
wife  of  Sergeant  J.  Trevanion  Thayer, 
and  the  mother  of  a  daughter.  4.  Sydney 
Pemberton,  Jr.,  born  September  7,  1900. 


BURNHAM,   George, 

Head  of  Important  Interests. 

Despite  the  fact  that  a  number  of  years 
have  elapsed  since  the  late  George  Burn- 
ham,  head  of  the  widely  known  house  of 
Burnham,  Williams  &  Company,  ceased 
to  be  an  active  force  in  the  business  world 
of  Philadelphia,  his  name  and  the  mem- 
ory of  his  work  are  still  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  very  many  of  our  citizens.  Not  only  in 
manufacturing  circles  was  Mr.  Burnham 
a  power,  but  in  the  promotion  of  the  char- 
itable and  philanthropic  interests  of  his 
adopted  city  he  was  long,  earnestly  and 
actively  influential. 

George  Burnham  was  born  March  II, 
181 7,  in  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  a  son 
of  Charles  and  Persis  (White)  Burnham, 
and   a  descendant   of   Thomas   Burnham 


who,  about  1635,  settled  in  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut. In  Colonial  days  the  descend- 
ants of  Thomas  Burnham,  who  was  a 
lawyer  and  a  man  of  much  force  of  char- 
acter, became  residents  of  Springfield. 
Persis  (White)  Burnham  traced  her  de- 
scent from  Elder  John  White,  who  was 
one  of  the  pioneers,  successively,  of  Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts,  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, and  Hadley,  Massachusetts.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  selectmen  of  Cam- 
bridge and  twice  served  as  deputy  to  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts. 

The  education  of  George  Burnham  was 
received  in  the  public  schools,  but  his 
attendance  there  soon  came  to  an  end,  for 
when  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  of 
age  he  came  to  Philadelphia  and  entered 
the  service  of  Baldwin  &  Coltin,  whole- 
sale grocers,  at  Second  and  Dock  streets, 
the  junior  partner  being  a  friend  of  the 
Burnham  family.  Realizing  how  very 
limited  had  been  his  early  educational 
opportunities  Mr.  Burnham  devoted  every 
leisure  moment  to  the  study  of  history 
and  biography,  often  reading  far  into  the 
night.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  his  work- 
ing day  was  from  six  in  the  morning  until 
ten  at  night  it  seems  clear  that  he  must 
frequently  have  "burned  the  midnight 
oil."  The  inventive  genius  which  was 
one  of  his  marked  characteristics  resulted, 
when  he  was  but  a  youth,  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  diving  machine  which  was  prac- 
tically tested  in  Delaware. 

In  1837  Mr.  Burnham  obtained  a  cleri- 
cal position  in  the  locomotive  works  of 
M.  W.  Baldwin.  Here  he  found  himself 
in  his  true  element  and  steadily  rose,  ad- 
vancing from  one  place  to  another  of  in- 
creased responsibility.  Upon  the  death  of 
Mr.  Baldwin  in  1866  Mr.  Burnham  be- 
came a  member  of  the  firm  which  was 
then  reorganized  under  the  name  of  M. 
Baird  &  Company.  Eventually,  in  con- 
sequence of  changes  in  the  ownership  of 


179 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


the  business,  he  became  senior  partner  of 
the  firm,  the  style  being  altered  to  Burn- 
ham,  Williams  &  Company.  The  concern 
was  later  incorporated  as  the  Baldwin 
Locomotive  Works.  The  fact  that  this 
organization  is  to-day  one  of  the  foremost 
manufacturing  concerns  of  the  United 
States  is  very  largely  owing  to  the  clear- 
sighted wisdom  and  wisely-aggressive 
management  of  George  Burnham.  He  was 
for  years  the  manager  and  controller  of 
the  moneyed  interests  of  the  enterprise, 
also  figuring  prominently  in  financial  cir- 
cles in  other  important  relations.  Mr. 
Burnham  was  a  member  of  the  Union 
League,  the  Art  Club  and  the  City  Club, 
and  various  associations  of  scientific  and 
literary  foundation.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  original  "Committee  of  One  Hundred" 
and  was  identified  with  all  important 
movements  for  political  reform.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  New  Church,  "Sweden- 
borgian,"  at  Twenty-second  and  Chest- 
nut streets,  and  at  one  time  president  of 
that  society. 

On  February  13,  1843,  Mr.  Burnham 
marrried  Anna,  daughter  of  Samuel  and 
Ann  Cook  Hemple,  of  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  their  children  were:  1. 
Catherine,  deceased.  2.  William,  de- 
ceased, whose  biography  and  portrait  ap- 
pear elsewhere  in  this  work.  3.  George, 
Jr.,  of  Philadelphia.  4.  Mary  Arthur,  who 
is  of  Philadelphia.  5.  Anna,  wife  of  Theo- 
dore J.  Lewis,  of  Philadelphia,  and  their 
children  are:  (i)  Mrs.  J.  O.  Low,  born 
September  2,  1883,  of  Brooklyn,  mother 
of  four  children :  Dorothy,  born  April  20, 
1907;  Mary  Forthingham,  born  June  12, 
1909;  Josiah  Orne,  born  May  20,  1912; 
and  Theodore,  born  November  19,  191 5. 
(ii)  Mrs.  Edgar  Lawrence  Smith,  born 
- — ^June  15,  1S85,  of  Montclair,  New  Jersey, 
whose  children  are:  Edgar  Lawrence,  Jr., 
born  September  ii,  1912;  and  Jean,  born 
October  14,   191 5.     (iii)   Theodore  Burn- 


ham, born  November  14,  1890,  married 
Mary  Long,  of  Texas,  and  their  children 
are :  Frances  Patricia,  born  March  7, 
1917;  and  Charlotte,  born  July  4,  1918. 
(iv)  Burnham,  born  June  14,  1897,  an 
officer  in  the  United  States  Army.  6. 
Emma,  born  June  18,  1861,  deceased,  who 
married  Frederick  J.  Stimson,  of  New 
York,  and  their  children  were:  (i)  Burn- 
ham, born  April,  1887,  died  July,  1887. 
(ii)  Frederick  Burnham,  born  February 
9,  1891,  married  Amelia  W.  Eadie,  of 
Flushing,  New  York,  and  their  son  is 
Frederick  Burnham,  Jr.,  born  August  26, 
1917.  (iii)  Anna  Katherine,  born  Novem- 
ber 14,  1892,  unmarried,  (iv)  Boudinot, 
born  May  25,  1897,  unmarried,  now 
(1918)  in  France  with  the  United  States 
Army,  (v)  William  Burnham,  born  Oc- 
tober 25,  1899. 

George    Burnham    died    December    12, 
1912,  in  his  ninety-sixth  year. 


PETERSON,  Henry, 

Journalist,  Author 

In  the  journalistic  history  of  Philadel- 
phia no  name  stands  higher  than  that  of 
the  late  Henry  Peterson,  for  thirty  years 
editor  of  the  "Saturday  Evening  Post" 
and  head  of  the  firm  of  H.  Peterson  & 
Company.  In  addition  to  his  prominence 
as  a  member  of  the  Fourth  Estate,  Mr. 
Peterson  was  well  known  as  the  author  of 
numerous  novels  and  plays  of  unques- 
tioned literary  merit. 

Peterson  Arms — Sable,  on  a  cross  between  four 
lions'  heads  erased  argent,  five  eagles  displayed  of 
the  field. 

Crest — A  pelican  proper. 

Motto — Nihil  sine  dco  (Nothing  without  God). 

(I)  Lawrence  Peterson,  grandfather 
of  Henry  Peterson,  married  Rachel  Ford, 
and  resided  at  Pleasant  Mills,  New  Jer- 
sey. 


180 


mjttwan 


- 


£ 


S7S5-  M72 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


(II)  George  Peterson,  son  of  Law- 
rence and  Rachel  (Ford)  Peterson,  was 
born  April  21,  1785,  at  Pleasant  Mills, 
New  Jersey.  He  came  to  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  at  an  early  age,  shortly 
after  the  year  1800,  and  engaged  in  mer- 
chantile  pursuits,  his  ventures  in  the 
West  Indian  trade  being  especially  suc- 
cessful. He  married,  January  9,  1812, 
Jane  Evans,  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Rachel  (Ridgway)  Evans,  and  a  grand- 
daughter of  Robert  Evans,  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  Soon 
after  their  marriage  the  young  couple 
went  to  housekeeping  in  a  residence  be- 
longing to  Mrs.  Peterson,  on  Fifth  street 
above  Arch.  In  the  year  1818  Mr.  Peter- 
son bought  a  handsome  residence  on  the 
south  side  of  Arch  street,  just  above 
Fifth,  the  old  number  being  102.  About 
this  time  George  Peterson  invested  con- 
siderably in  real  estate  in  Philadelphia, 
and  in  1828  purchased  a  country  seat  con- 
taining sixty-five  acres  on  the  County 
Line  Road,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
the  Old  York  Road.  This  beautiful  spot, 
"Spring  Dale,"  was  his  summer  home  for 
many  years.  He  was  a  devout  Quaker, 
attending  Arch  Street  Meeting  when  in 
the  city  and  Abington  Meeting  when  in 
the  country.  When  the  separation  be- 
tween what  are  commonly  known  as  the 
Orthodox  and  the  Hicksite  Friends  oc- 
curred, he  went  with  the  latter,  and  there- 
after worshipped  at  Green  Street  Meeting 
House,  which  became  the  headquarters 
of  the  more  liberal  element.  He  took  a 
great  interest  in  the  Friends  School  on 
Walnut  street  above  Sixth,  and  was  one 
of  its  managers.  He  was  also  a  manager 
of  the  Wills  Eye  Hospital,  and  at  one 
time  (May  22,  1829,  to  September  2, 
1834)  a  director  in  the  Lehigh  Coal  and 
Navigation  Company.  He  died  May  10, 
1872,  and  is  buried  in  Laurel  Hill  Ceme- 
tery.    His  wife's  death  occurred  June  20, 


1859.  George  and  Jane  (Evans)  Peter- 
son were  the  parents  of  ten  children:  1. 
Robert  Evans  Peterson,  M.  D.,  born  Nov- 
ember 12,  1812,  died  October  30,  1894,  a 
graduate  of  the  Medical  Department  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania;  he  also 
studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
but  never  practised  either  law  or  medi- 
cine. He  studied  law  in  the  office  of  his 
father-in-law,  Judge  Bouvier;  in  1850  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  George  W. 
Childs  under  the  firm  name  of  R.  E.  Pet- 
erson &  Company;  two  of  their  earliest 
and  most  notable  publications  were  "Bou- 
vier's  Law  Dictionary"  and  "Peterson's 
Familiar  Science ;"  in  1854  the  firm  name 
was  changed  to  Childs  &  Peterson,  and  in 
1856  they  published  "Dr.  Kane's  Arctic 
Explorations ;"  some  years  later  the  firm 
was  dissolved,  Mr.  Peterson  retiring  from 
commercial  life;  he  married  (first)  Sep- 
tember 12,  1834,  Hannah  Mary  Bouvier, 
who  died  September  4,  1870;  married 
(second)  December  2,  1871,  Blanche 
Gottschalk,  who  died  July  23,  1879';  mar- 
ried (third)  May  27,  1880,  Clara  Gott- 
schalk, who  died  July  25,  1910.  2.  Rachel 
Evans,  born  September  4,  1814,  died  Aug- 
ust 21,  1862;  married  November  5,  1835. 
Edmund  Deacon.  3.  George,  born  Sep- 
tember 20,  1816,  died  December  23,  1820. 
4.  Henry,  see  below.  5.  Esther  Evans, 
born  January  7,  1821,  died  May  18,  1847. 

6.  Richard,  born  March  8,  1823,  died 
December  12,  1893 ;  married  February  15, 
1844,  Almira  Little ;  was  a  manufacturer. 

7.  Anna,  born  September  29,  1825,  died 
February  21,  1908;  married,  October  17, 
1849,  Amos  R.  Little.  8.  Pearson  Serrill, 
born  September  26,  1828,  died  January  7, 
1877;  married  October  21,  1852,  Emma 
Lehman ;  was  a  banker.  9.  Helen  Long- 
streth,  born  December  29,  1830,  died  Oc- 
tober 4,  1905 ;  married  April  17,  1855, 
Charles  Taylor  Deacon.  10.  Philema 
Marshall,  born  July  8,  1833,  died  June  7, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


191 1 ;  married  October  8,  1857,  William 
Estes  Newhall. 

(Ill)  Henry  Peterson,  son  of  George 
and  Jane  (Evans)  Peterson,  was  born 
December  7,  1818.  He  received  his  edu- 
cation in  private  schools.  At  an  early  age 
he  manifested  an  inclination  for  literary 
work,  his  first  novel,  "The  Twin  Broth- 
ers," having  been  written  before  he 
reached  his  twenty-first  birthday.  The 
circle  of  his  intimate  friends  then  included 
James  Russell  Lowell  and  John  G.  Whit- 
tier.  From  1838  to  1840  Mr.  Whittier 
resided  in  Philadelphia  as  the  editor  of 
the  "Pennsylvania  Freeman."  Mr.  Pet- 
erson, though  never  belonging  to  the  wing 
of  the  anti-slavery  party  represented  by 
William  Lloyd  Garrison,  allied  himself 
with  the  cause,  becoming  known  as  the 
author  of  a  number  of  forcible  articles. 
In  1843  Mr.  Peterson  accepted  the  posi- 
tion of  assistant  editor  of  the  "Saturday 
Evening  Post,"  then  published  by  Samuel 
D.  Patterson  &  Company.  Five  years 
later,  in  association  with  his  brother-in- 
law,  Edmund  Deacon,  he  purchased  the 
paper  and  plant,  becoming  half  owner 
and  sole  editor.  The  result  proved  the 
right  of  Henry  Peterson  to  be  classed 
among  America's  foremost  editors.  The 
circulation  of  the  paper  soon  exceeded 
eighty  thousand  copies,  a  number  which, 
seventy-five  years  ago,  was  regarded  as 
extraordinary.  Mr.  Peterson  subsequent- 
ly purchased  his  partner's  interest,  the 
style  of  the  firm  becoming  H.  Peterson 
&  Company.  After  retaining  control  of 
the  paper  for  about  thirty  years,  Mr.  Pet- 
erson relinquished  it  to  R.  J.  C.  Walker 
and  retired  to  private  life.  It  is  now 
owned  by  Cyrus  H.  K.  Curtis. 

After  his  withdrawal  from  the  arena  of 
journalism  Mr.  Peterson,  at  his  home  in 
Germantown,  devoted  himself  chiefly  to 
literary  work.  His  published  works  in- 
clude the  following:    "The  Twin  Broth- 


ers," 1843;  "Poems,"  1863;  "The  Modern 
Job,"  1869;  "Pemberton,  or  One  Hundred 
Years  Ago,"  1872;  "Fairemount,"  1874; 
"Caesar,  a  Dramatic  Study,"  1879;  and  a 
volume  of  poems,  1883.  He  was  the  au- 
thor of  a  number  of  plays,  the  best  known 
of  which,  "Helen,"  was  produced  at  the 
Chestnut  Street  Theatre  in  1876.  Mr. 
Peterson's  latest  work  was  a  drama  called 
"Columbus,"  finished  shortly  before  his 
death.  A  posthumous  novel  entitled, 
"Ducibel,"  was  published  some  years  af- 
ter that  event. 

The  personality  of  Henry  Peterson  pre- 
sents an  interesting  study,  combining  as 
it  did  the  characteristics  of  the  journal- 
ist, the  novelist  and  the  poet.  Fitted  to 
lead  and  to  contend  he  yet  found  in  re- 
tirement a  congenial  atmosphere  and  the 
longed  for  opportunity  for  the  exercise 
of  his  imaginative  and  poetic  genius.  His 
fearlessness  in  behalf  of  all  he  deemed 
right  was  shown  in  his  espousal  of  the 
anti-slavery  cause.  His  disposition  was 
kindly  and  companionable,  and  his  attach- 
ments were  warm  and  constant. 

Henry  Peterson  married,  October  28, 
1842,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Benjamin  and 
Catherine  (Jackson)  Webb,  of  Wilming- 
ton, Delaware.  She  was  born  in  Wil- 
mington, Delaware,  November  9,  1820. 
All  her  original  ancestors  in  America,  on 
both  her  father's  and  her  mother's  side, 
were  English  Quakers,  who,  following 
the  coming  of  William  Penn,  settled  in 
Chester  county,  between  the  years  1682 
and  1725. 

Webb  Arms — Argent  a  bezant  on  a  chief  or, 
three  martlets  gules. 

Crest — Out  of  an  Eastern  coronet  or,  a  dexter 
arm  erect  couped  at  the  elbow,  habited  azure 
cuffed  argent,  holding  in  the  hand  a  slip  of  laurel, 
all  proper. 

Much  of  the  early  life  of  Mrs.  Peterson 
was  passed  at  Harmony  Grove,  the  home 


182 


-& 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


of  her  mother's  mother,  the  widow  of 
John  Jackson,  near  London  Grove,  Ches- 
ter county,  and  to  this  beautiful  spot,  an 
estate  of  about  four  hundred  acres,  two 
acres  of  which  had  been  cultivated  by 
her  grandfather  as  a  sort  of  botanical 
garden,  she  used  to  look  back,  in  after 
years,  as  to  an  earthly  paradise.  She 
possessed  a  passionate  fondness  for  flow- 
ers and  plants,  and  for  a  country  life. 
Though  scrupulously  faithful  in  the  per- 
formance of  her  domestic  duties,  she  yet 
seemed  to  find  time  for  the  cultivation  of 
many  accomplishments — reading  and 
speaking  French  and  German,  painting  in 
water-colors,  and  writing,  with  grace  and 
distinction,  both  prose  and  poetry.  For 
the  latter,  especially,  she  possessed  a  rare 
gift.  The  character  of  this  beautiful 
woman  was  essentially  gentle  and  femi- 
nine ;  sweetness  and  light  seemed  ever  to 
radiate  from  her;  and  in  her  life  was  typi- 
fied all  that  was  best  in  the  religion  of 
George  Fox  and  William  Penn.  If  she 
had  any  fault  it  was  that  she  was  not 
aggressive  enough  for  this  rough  world ; 
but  to  the  writer  of  these  lines  (her  son, 
Arthur  Peterson)  she  seemed  to  have  no 
faults  whatever ;  and  looking  back  across 
the  years  he  can,  even  now,  discern  none. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peterson  were  the  parents 
of  nine  children,  two  of  whom  died  in 
early  childhood.  Of  those  who  survived, 
a  son,  Arthur,  is  represented  in  this  work 
by  a  biography,  which  follows.  The  home 
life  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peterson  was  ideal. 
On  April  19,  1891,  the  devoted  wife  and 
mother  passed  away  at  her  home  in  Ger- 
mantown,  Philadelphia,  and  was  buried 
in  Laurel  Hill  Cemetery.  Her  husband 
did  not  long  survive  her.  On  October  10, 
1&91,  he  breathed  his  last,  deeply  and  sin- 
cerely mourned  and  widely  and  deserv- 
edly honored. 

As  that  of  a  man  of  letters  the  name  of 
Henry  Peterson  holds  and  will  continue 


to  hold  an  assured  place,  but  it  is  on  his 
long  leadership  of  the  oldest  and,  in  many 
respects,  the  most  distinguished  of  Amer- 
ican journals  that  he  rests  his  claim  to 
national  and  enduring  renown. 


PETERSON,  Arthur, 

Author,  Naval  Officer. 

The  name  of  Arthur  Peterson,  man  of 
letters  and  retired  naval  officer,  has  long 
been  nationally  familiar  to  his  fellow- 
countrymen.  Mr.  Peterson's  many  years 
of  service  were  spent  in  different  quarters 
of  the  globe,  but  he  has  now  been  long 
established  as  a  resident  of  his  native 
Philadelphia  to  whom,  during  his  period 
of  wandering,  his  heart  ever  remained 
loyal. 

Arthur  Peterson  was  born  September 
20,  1851,  in  Philadelphia,  and  is  a  son  of 
Henry  and  Sarah  (Webb)  Peterson.  A 
biography  of  Henry  Peterson,  who  has 
been  many  years  deceased,  precedes  this 
account.  The  families  of  Peterson  and 
Webb  are  of  English  origin,  and  have 
long  been  represented  in  the  Society  of 
Friends,  having  secured  land  in  and  near 
Philadelphia  between  the  years  1682  and 
1725- 

The  education  of  Arthur  Peterson  was 
received  in  private  schools  of  his  native 
city,  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen  or  twenty 
he  became  assistant  editor  of  the  "Satur- 
day Evening  Post,"  of  which  his  father 
was  then  editor  and  publisher.  When 
the  paper  passed  into  other  hands,  Mr. 
Peterson  entered  the  United  States  Navy 
as  a  paymaster,  receiving  his  appointment 
on  February  23,  1877,  and  being  stationed 
at  League  Island.  In  1877-78  he  was  sta- 
tioned on  the  "Canonicus,"  and  from  1879 
in  1883  he  served  on  the  "Palos"  in  Jap- 
anese and  Chinese  waters.  From  1884 
to  1886  he  held  the  position  of  inspector 
and  paymaster  at  the  navy  yard  at  Pen- 


1 S3 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


sacola,  Florida.  In  1887-88  he  made  a 
cruise  on  the  "Iroquois"  of  the  Pacific 
Squadron,  and  in  1889-90  was  stationed 
on  a  store  ship,  the  "Monongahela."  In 
October,  1890,  he  was  made  assistant  gen- 
eral storekeeper  of  the  New  York  Navy 
Yard,  remaining  until  July,  1892.  He  was 
then  ordered  to  the  "Monocacy,"  of  the 
Asiatic  Station,  and  in  May,  1894,  was 
transferred  to  the  Naval  Home  in  Phila- 
delphia, where  he  remained  until  March, 
1897.  In  April,  1897,  he  was  again  at- 
tached to  the  "Monocacy,"  serving  there 
until  1898.  In  that  year,  which  brought 
him  the  climax  of  his  naval  career,  he  was 
ordered  to  the  "Baltimore,"  of  Admiral 
Dewey's  fleet  at  Manila.  In  September, 
1902,  he  resigned  from  the  naval  service, 
with  an  honorable  record  of  twenty-five 
years'  duration. 

On  returning  to  civil  life  Mr.  Peterson 
again  turned  his  attention  to  literature 
and  has  since  devoted  himself  to  author- 
ship, having  published  a  number  of  poet- 
ical volumes,  including:  "Songs  of  New 
Sweden,"  1887;  "Penrhyn's  Pilgrimage," 
1894;  "Collected  Poems,"  1900;  "Sigurd," 
1910;  "Collected  Poems"  (Revised)  and 
"Andvari's  Ring,"  1916.  Of  Mr.  Peter- 
son's personal  appearance  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  speak  at  length,  inasmuch  as  his 
portrait  belongs  with  that  of  his  distin- 
guished father.  His  expression  is  keen, 
but  kindly,  and  his  manner  has  the  alert- 
ness and  decision  of  the  naval  officer  and 
the  polish  of  the  man  of  letters  and  the 
gentleman.  He  belongs  to  various  clubs 
and  societies,  among  them  being  the 
Union  League,  Colonial  Society  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Historical  Society  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Military  Order  of  Foreign 
Wars. 

Mr.  Peterson  married,  March  30,  1891, 
Georgiana,  daughter  of  the  late  Charles 
J.  and  Anna  Margaret  (Reel)  Harrah. 
Mr.  Harrah,  who  at  one  time  resided  at 


Rio  Janiero,  Brazil,  was  afterward  prom- 
inent in  the  business  world  and  social  life 
of  Philadelphia.  By  this  marriage  Mr. 
Peterson  gained  the  companionship  of  a 
charming  and  congenial  woman,  and  one 
well  fitted  in  all  ways  to  be  his  helpmate 
and  adviser.  A  woman  of  grace,  charm 
and  tact,  her  position  in  Philadelphia  so- 
ciety was  an  enviable  one,  and  the  Peter- 
son home,  "Red  Gates,"  at  Overbrook, 
was  the  centre  of  a  gracious  and  genial 
hospitality.  A  man  of  strong  domestic 
affections,  Mr.  Peterson  ever  found  in 
his  home  the  sources  of  his  highest  happi- 
ness. She  who  was  the  presiding  genius 
of  his  fireside  passed  away  September  19, 
1911. 

To  the  literary  fame  with  which,  for 
three-quarters  of  a  century,  the  name  of 
Peterson  has  been  invested,  Arthur  Pet- 
erson, by  his  writings,  has  added  new 
lustre,  combining  with  it  the  record  of  a 
brave  and  faithful  officer  of  the  United 
States  Navy. 


COOKE,  Jay, 

Financier  of  World-wide  Fame. 

Philadelphia  has  been  so  fortunate  as 
to  number  among  her  citizens  many  men 
eminent  in  every  walk  of  life  and  not  a 
few  of  international  renown.  Of  these 
none  was  of  nobler  fame  than  Jay  Cooke, 
"financier  of  the  Civil  War,"  who,  at  a 
time  of  unprecedented  crisis,  came  for- 
ward as  the  savior  of  the  Nation.  Mr. 
Cooke's  later  life  was  in  harmony  with  his 
earlier  years  inasmuch  as  it  was  that  of 
a  high-minded  man  of  affairs  devoted  to 
the  service  of  his  country  and  the  uplift- 
ing of  humanity. 

Henry  Cook  (as  the  name  was  origi- 
nally spelled),  founder  of  the  American 
branch  of  the  family,  was  manifestly  an 
English  Puritan,  his  name  being  first  met 
with  in  1638  in  the  town  records  of  Salem, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Massachusetts.  Henry  Cook  married,  in 
1639,  Judith  Burdsall,  and  died  in  1661, 
leaving  nine  children,  the  eldest  twenty- 
two  and  the  youngest  four  years  of  age. 

(II)  Samuel  Cook,  second  son  of  Hen- 
ry and  Judith  (Burdsall)  Cook,  who,  in 
1663,  went  to  New  Haven,  Connecticut, 
migrated  thence,  about  1670,  to  Walling- 
ford,  going  with  the  first  company  of 
planters  and  becoming  the  only  tanner 
and  shoemaker  in  the  settlement.  He 
married,  in  New  Haven,  Hope,  daughter 
of  Edward  Parker,  and  his  children — he 
was  twice  married — were  fifteen  in  num- 
ber. 

(III)  Samuel  (2)  Cook,  eldest  son  of 
Samuel  (1)  Cook. 

(IV)  Asaph  Cook,  fourteenth  child  of 
Samuel  (2)  Cook,  was  born  in  1720,  and 
removed  to  Granville,  a  town  in  Southern 
Massachusetts.  His  death  occurred  in 
1792. 

(V)  Asaph  (2)  Cook,  third  son  of 
Asaph  (1)  Cook,  was  born  in  1748,  and, 
with  his  brothers,  bore  arms  at  the  battle 
of  Lexington.  Later  Asaph  (2)  Cook  re- 
moved to  Granville,  Washington  county, 
New  York,  and  late  in  life  went  to  San- 
dusky, Ohio,  where  he  died  in  1826. 

(VI)  Eleutheros  Cooke,  son  of  Asaph 
(2)  Cook,  was  born  December  25,  1787, 
in  Grenville,  Washington  county,  New 
York,  being  one  of  a  large  family  of  sons 
and  daughters.  He  attended  the  schools 
of  the  neighborhood  and  read  law,  enjoy- 
ing for  a  time  the  instruction  of  the  fa- 
mous Chancellor  Kent.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  his  native  State,  and  in  1817 
began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Granville,  but  in  1819  removed  to  Bloom- 
ingdale,  Ohio,  and  in  1820  settled  in  San- 
dusky, where  he  attained  a  leading  place 
at  the  bar.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Ohio  Legislature,  and 
from  183 1  to  1833  represented  the  Whig 
party  in  Congress.    He  was  a  pioneer  in 


railroad  building  in  the  West,  being  the 
projector  of  the  Mad  River  &  Lake  Erie 
Railroad,  now  the  Sandusky,  Dayton  & 
Cincinnati  Railroad.  Mr.  Cooke  married, 
December  12,  1812,  Martha,  daughter  of 
David  Carswell,  of  Fort  Edward,  Wash- 
ington county,  a  Revolutionary  soldier 
who  suffered  a  long  imprisonment  in  Can- 
ada, and  they  became  the  parents  of  the 
following  children:  Sarah  E.,  wife  of 
William  G.  Moorhead ;  Pitt;  Jay,  men- 
tioned below ;  Henry  David,  first  gover- 
nor of  the  District  of  Columbia;  Eleu- 
theros, died  at  the  age  of  two  years ;  and 
Catherine  E.,  lived  to  be  but  three  years 
old.  Mr.  Cooke  died  in  Sandusky,  Decem- 
ber 2-j,  1864. 

(VII)  Jay  Cooke,  son  of  Eleutheros 
and  Martha  (Carswell)  Cooke,  was  born 
August  10,  1821,  and  received  his  educa- 
tion in  the  village  school,  at  a  private 
school  taught  by  Miss  Lydia  Stone,  "a 
cousin  of  much  talent  and  many  accom- 
plishments," to  use  his  own  words,  and 
also,  as  he  goes  on  to  say,  "in  a  private 
academy  taught  by  Mr.  Adams  in  the 
basement  of  Grace  Episcopal  Church." 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  obtained  a  clerk- 
ship with  the  firm  of  Hubbard  &  Lester, 
in  Sandusky,  and  in  1836  was  offered  a 
position  with  Seymour  &  Bool  of  St. 
Louis.  There  he  remained  for  about  a 
year,  returning  at  the  end  of  that  time 
to  Sandusky,  and  in  the  spring  of  1838 
went  to  Philadelphia  to  become  a  clerk 
in  the  establishment  of  his  brother-in-law, 
William  G.  Moorhead,  manager  of  the 
Washington  Packet  Line.  At  the  end  of 
six  months  he  returned  to  Sandusky,  but 
in  the  spring  of  1839  found  himself  once 
more  in  Philadelphia,  having  been  offered 
a  position  in  the  banking  house  of  E.  W. 
Clark  &  Company. 

This  was  the  real  beginning  of  a  finan- 
cial career  which  was  destined  to  become 
involved  with  the  most  momentous  na- 

85 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


tional  interests.  His  unusual  talents  and 
strict  fidelity  to  every  obligation  caused 
him  soon  to  be  placed  in  a  position  of 
great  responsibility.  This  was  the  period 
of  the  great  financial  upheaval  caused  by 
the  refusal  of  President  Jackson  to  re- 
charter  the  second  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  and  for  so  young  a  man  as  Jay 
Cooke  to  make  himself  a  factor  of  import- 
ance at  a  time  like  this  was  proof  of  his 
possession  of  the  financial  genius  which 
was  to  develop  so  marvellously  with  the 
lapse  of  years.  One  who  saw  the  young 
clerk  at  his  post  thus  describes  him : 
"Cooke,  as  I  recall  him  at  that  time,  was 
tall,  slender,  light-haired,  blue-eyed,  fair- 
complexioned  and  of  radiant  countenance. 
I  know  not  with  what  word  I  can  better 
describe  the  smile  of  the  mouth  and  the 
eye,  the  ever  present  winsome  and  intelli- 
gent expression  resting  upon  that  unusual 
face,  which  always  met  you  so  silently, 
but  always  so  pleasantly.  Brightness  and 
cheerfulness  characterized  his  whole  per- 
sonality. Every  movement,  every  step, 
every  motion  of  hand  and  arm  was  a 
bright  one." 

Ere  many  years  had  elapsed  Mr.  Cooke 
became  a  partner  in  the  firm,  and  his 
counsel  and  aid  were  sought  and  given  in 
the  various  large  operations  in  which  the 
house  played  a  leading  part  for  a  long 
period.  These  were  difficult  years  for 
American  brokers  and  bankers,  and  in 
1857  came  the  great  panic  which  deranged 
all  calculations  in  the  business  world. 
Mr.  Cooke,  who  had  been  contemplating 
retirement  from  the  firm  ever  since  Mr. 
Clark's  death,  which  had  occurred  the 
previous  year,  was  now  involved  in  diffi- 
culties from  which  he  could  not  for  some 
time  extricate  himself.  Soon  occurred  the 
simultaneous  suspension  of  all  the  houses 
of  E.  W.  Clark  &  Company,  but  through- 
out the  excitement  Jay  Cooke  was  calm, 
facing  this  crisis  as  all  others  with  an  ab- 


solutely unruffled  temper.  Withdrawing 
from  the  arena  he  busied  himself  in  pro- 
tecting the  interests  of  the  estate  and  in 
adjusting  his  own  affairs.  He  was  now 
a  man  of  comparative  leisure,  but  the  su- 
preme service  of  his  life  was  yet  to  be 
required  of  him. 

In  January,  1861,  Mr.  Cooke,  in  asso- 
ciation with  William  G.  Moorhead,  organ- 
ized the  famous  banking  firm  of  Jay 
Cooke  &  Company.  It  was  a  dark  hour 
in  which  to  found  a  new  business,  espec- 
ially a  banking  business.  The  dark  clouds 
of  impending  Civil  War  had  already  gath- 
ered and  the  entire  country  was  in  a  state 
of  great  unsettlement.  Mr.  Cooke's  in- 
troduction to  his  fellow-citizens  as  a  pub- 
lic financier  was  promptly  and  sweepingly 
effected  through  his  sale,  early  in  1861, 
of  the  Pennsylvania  State  Loan  of  three 
million  dollars.  About  this  time  he  was 
tendered  the  office  of  treasurer  of  the  mint 
and  assistant  treasurer,  but  declined  it, 
wishing  to  give  his  entire  attention  to  the 
larger  and  more  congenial  work  of  secur- 
ing subscriptions  for  government  loans. 
When  tidings  came  of  the  defeat  at  Bull 
Run  he  dropped  all  other  occupations, 
visited  his  fellow  bankers  and  brokers  and 
in  a  few  hours  collected  nearly  two  mil- 
lion dollars  for  the  government. 

This  signal  service,  together  with  Mr. 
Cooke's  subsequent  extraordinary  zeal 
and  efficiency  in  the  sale  of  government 
notes,  raised  him  in  the  eyes  of  the  treas- 
ury department  to  an  eminence  not  en- 
joyed by  any  other  American  financier 
and  led  to  his  appointment  as  sole  sub- 
scription agent  for  national  loans.  In 
February,  1862,  Jay  Cooke  &  Company 
opened  a  banking  house  in  Washington 
and  his  services  to  the  government  were 
materially  increased.  At  the  end  of  1862 
occurred  the  third  financial  crisis  in  the 
history  of  the  war  when  relief  was  found 
in  the  great  and  successful  "five-twenty" 


186 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


loan.  To  Mr.  Cooke,  and  to  him  alone,  is 
due  the  credit  for  this  brilliant  financial 
operation  which  was  a  factor  of  vast  im- 
portance in  deciding  the  fate  of  the  Union. 
In  February,  1863,  he  performed  his  first 
great  feat  of  going  into  the  market  to 
support  government  stocks,  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  national  banking  sys- 
tem was  very  largely  due  to  his  efforts. 
His  appointment,  in  January,  1865,  as 
Philadelphia  general  agent  for  the  sale  of 
government  loans  was  the  signal  for  the 
adoption  of  all  those  methods  in  regard  '  ■ 
the  seven-thirty  loan  which  had  been  so 
successfully  employed  in  the  distribution 
of  the  five-twenty.  The  history  of  finance, 
public  or  private,  shows  no  movement  in 
any  way  comparing  with  the  unique  cam- 
paign by  which  Jay  Cooke  popularized 
and  sold  the  great  seven-thirty  loan.  The 
money  procured  through  this  agency  paid 
the  troops  who  brought  the  war  to  an 
end  and  facilitated  the  disbandment  of  the 
largest  body  of  soldiery  ever  assembled 
on  this  Continent,  returning  them  to  their 
homes  with  their  wages  in  their  pockets 
and  with  words  of  praise  in  their  mouths 
for  the  country  which  had  sent  them  forth 
to  fight  its  battles. 

Neither  then  nor  for  many  years  after 
were  the  inestimable  services  of  Jay 
Cooke  fully  realized,  but  it  is  pleasant  to 
remember  that  they  were  understood  and 
appreciated  by  the  wise  and  brave  soldier 
then  in  command  of  our  army.  In  March, 
1865,  when  Jay  Cooke,  Jr.,  was  about  to 
start  on  a  trip  to  Fortress  Monroe  and 
thought  it  probable  that  he  should  see 
General  Grant  while  in  Virginia  he  tele- 
graphed his  father,  asking  if  he  had  any 
message  to  send  the  commander.  The 
reply  was :  "Tell  the  general  to  push  the 
fighting.  We  will  supply  all  the  money 
that  is  needed."  This  message  was  deliv- 
ered and  in  reply  General  Grant  said: 
"Tell   your   father   that   I   appreciate   his 


message  and  his  services.  Tell  him  that 
he  is  doing  more  than  all  the  generals  in 
the  army;  for  without  his  aid  we  could 
not  do  any  fighting." 

When  the  storm  and  stress  of  the  con- 
flict had  become  things  of  the  past  Mr. 
Cooke  turned  his  attention  to  a  variety 
of  enterprises  including  coal,  iron  and 
railway  interests,  and  also  the  life  insur- 
ance business.  His  favorite  enterprises, 
however,  were  railway  companies  with 
some  of  which  he  had  become  connected 
during  the  war.  For  many  years  he  had 
been  warmly  interested  in  the  project  of 
building  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  coast, 
and  in  1866  he  identified  himself  with  the 
cause,  becoming,  eventually,  its  heart  and 
soul.  In  1870  Jay  Cooke  &  Company  be- 
came the  financial  agents  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad  and  thenceforth  Mr. 
Cooke  imparted  to  the  project  the  im- 
mense impetus  of  his  vitalizing  energy. 
He  was  always  enthusiastically  interested 
in  the  development  of  the  Northwest,  and 
its  progress  during  a  period  of  many  years 
was,  perhaps,  due  more  to  his  efforts  than 
to  those  of  any  other  one  man.  Then 
came  the  panic  of  1873  when  the  historic 
house  of  Jay  Cooke  &  Company  was 
forced  to  suspend.  Never  was  this  great 
man  greater  than  in  this  hour.  One  who 
was  then  a  clerk  in  the  Philadelphia  house 
says :  "I  shall  never  forget  the  evening 
of  that  fateful  18th  of  September,  1873. 
*  *  *  To  every  one  in  the  building  the 
failure  was  a  personal  grief.  It  was  our 
failure.  About  five  o'clock  Mr.  Cooke, 
wearing  his  broad-brimmed  felt  hat  and 
his  long  cloak,  emerged  from  his  private 
office  and  with  head  bowed  walked  slowly 
across  the  banking  house  and  out  through 
the  door  into  the  street.  *  *  *  Every 
heart  in  the  great  room  went  out  to  our 
stricken  chief." 

Within  a  few  years  Mr.  Cooke  was  en- 
abled, in  great  part,  to  repair  his  fallen 
87 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


fortunes,  largely  through  the  gratitude 
of  one  whom  he  had,  when  a  Philadelphia 
banker,  assisted  in  the  hour  of  need. 
Thus  the  closing  years  of  this  noble  life 
were  passed  in  the  ease  and  prosperity 
which  its  labors  and  achievements  had  so 
richly  merited. 

In  educational,  charitable  and  religious 
institutions  Mr.  Cooke  was  always  deeply 
interested.  He  was  a  vice-president  of 
the  Citizens'  Association  of  Pennsylvania 
and  of  the  National  Asylum  for  Disabled 
Volunteer  Soldiers.  He  made  large  dona- 
tions to  the  Sanitary  Fair  and  actively 
aided  in  the  work  of  the  Christian  Com- 
mission. For  several  years  he  contributed 
six  hundred  dollars  annually  to  Princeton 
University  to  support  a  prize  fellowship 
in  mathematics.  He  was  a  trustee  of  the 
Divinity  School  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal church  in  West  Philadelphia,  arid 
in  1864  gave  it  thirty  thousand  dollars  in 
United  States  ten-forty  coupon  bonds  to 
endow  a  chair  of  Pulpit  Eloquence  and 
Pastoral  Care.  The  endowment  was  in- 
creased by  later  gifts  and  accretions  until 
it  stands  to-day  at  fifty-four  thousand 
dollars,  being  known  as  the  Jay  Cooke 
Professorship  of  Homileties.  In  May, 
1866,  Mr.  Cooke  gave  Bishop  Lee,  of 
Iowa,  ten  thousand  dollars  in  aid  of  Gris- 
wold  College  in  that  State,  and  in  the 
same  year  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
(later  increased  to  thirty  thousand)  to 
found  a  chair  at  Kenyon  College  at  Gam- 
bier,  Ohio,  where  Bishop  Bedell  was  in- 
creasing the  endowment  of  the  theolog- 
ical seminary.  In  1890  Mr.  Cooke  do- 
nated five  thousand  dollars  to  the  Divinity 
School  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  He 
was  long  the  president  or  vice-president 
of  the  American  Sunday  School  Union  to 
which  he  gave  freely,  sending  it,  in  1S67, 
five  thousand  dollars  to  further  its  work 
in  the  South.  During  his  early  years  in 
Philadelphia    Mr.    Cooke    attended    the 


Methodist  Protestant  church  at  Eleventh 
and  Wood  streets,  and  after  his  marriage 
he  and  his  wife  became  members  of  St. 
Paul's  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  on 
Third  street  below  Walnut.  To  the  close 
of  his  life  Mr.  Cooke  maintained  his  con- 
nection with  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
church,  most  bountifully  contributing  to 
its  support  and  generously  aiding  in  its 
work. 

The  secret  of  Mr.  Cooke's  wonderful 
success  in  his  work  for  the  government 
has  been  eagerly  but  vainly  sought,  but 
a  study  of  his  life  and  personality  seems 
to  prove  that  it  lay,  apart  from  his  mar- 
vellous abilities,  in  a  singularly  magnetic 
individuality,  the  subtle,  fascinating  pow- 
er of  a  man  who,  always  confident  him- 
self, knew  how  to  impart  to  others  the 
overflowing  enthusiasm  of  his  nature. 
Ardently  loved  as  a  leader  he  was  also 
greatly  feared,  the  mere  mention  of  his 
name  terrorizing  gold  hoarders,  disloyal 
speculators  and  "bears"  on  government 
bonds  in  Wall  street.  To  his  financial 
genius  he  added  rare  clarity  of  vision,  his 
quick  mind  grasping  situations  in  an  in- 
stant and  thus  rendering  that  unhesitating 
action  which  was  always  one  of  his  sali- 
ent characteristics  rich  in  much  needed 
and  much  desired  results.  Possessing 
the  very  highest  sense  of  honor  all  his 
business  relations  were  invested  with  a 
certain  moral  grandeur  which  becomes 
more  and  more  impressive  as  time  reveals 
in  their  true  light  his  great  work  and 
noble  character.  To  his  loyalty  in  friend- 
ship a  multitude,  many  of  whom  have 
now  passed  to  the  Great  Beyond,  could 
most  abundantly  testify.  The  description 
already  quoted  of  Mr.  Cooke's  personal 
appearance  as  a  young  man  might  well 
be  supplemented  by  one  which  would 
show  him  as  he  was  in  his  latter  years 
when,  clad  in  his  great  cape  cloak  and 
with    his    wide-brimmed,    light-gray    soft 


iSS 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


felt  hat  set  over  a  gentle  face  adorned  by 
a  long  white  beard,  he  looked  like  the  pa- 
triarch he  was.  But  this  is  not  within  the 
province  of  the  biographer.  It  belongs 
to  the  artist  to  execute  a  portrait  which, 
in  time  to  come,  will  be  grouped  with 
those  of  the  two  men  whose  names  are 
the  most  sacred  in  our  national  history 
inasmuch  as  it  was  Jay  Cooke  who,  in  the 
darkest  days  of  the  Civil  War,  aided  Lin- 
coln to  preserve  what  Washington  had 
created. 

Mr.  Cooke  married,  August  21,  1844, 
Dorothea  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Richard 
Nun  and  Sarah  (Hughes)  Allen,  of  Bal- 
timore, Maryland,  and  they  became  the 
parents  of  the  following  children:  1.  Jay, 
Jr.,  whose  sketch  follows.  2.  Laura  El- 
mina,  born  1849;  married  Charles  D.  Bar- 
ney, whose  sketch  follows.  3.  Caroline 
Clara,  born  1850,  died  in  infancy.  4.  Sarah 
Esther,  born  1852,  became  the  wife  of 
John  M.  Butler.  5.  Dora  Elizabeth,  born 
1853,  died  in  infancy.  6.  Catharine  Moor- 
head,  born  1855,  died  in  her  ninth  year. 
7.  Pitt,  born  1856,  died  in  infancy.  8. 
Henry  Eleutheros,  born  1857;  graduated 
at  Princeton  University  and  entered  the 
ministry  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
church ;  married  Esther  Clarkson,  daugh- 
ter of  William  Russell,  a  banker  of  Lewis- 
town,  Pennsylvania.  The  marriage  of 
Mr.  Cooke  was  an  extremely  happy  one, 
resting  as  it  did  upon  perfect  sympathy 
of  taste  and  feeling.  Love  of  home  and 
family  were  ever  dominant  motives  with 
him  and  never  was  he  so  happy  as  at  the 
fireside  presided  over  by  his  cherished 
life-companion.  For  a  time  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Cooke  resided  in  Philadelphia  and  then, 
in  1858,  took  up  their  abode  at  "The 
Cedars,"  on  the  old  York  road  among  the 
Chelten  hills.  In  1866  they  moved  to 
"Ogontz,"  built  by  Mr.  Cooke  and  named 
in  memory  of  an  Indian  chief  who  had 
been  one  of  the  familiar  figures  of  his 


childhood.  This  house  was  said  to  be 
one  of  the  "private  palaces"  of  America 
and  was  famed  for  its  hospitalities  and 
benevolences.  Here  it  was  that  the  de- 
voted wife  and  mother,  the  joy  and  sun- 
shine of  the  home,  passed  away  on  July 
21,  1871.  After  the  reverses  of  1873  Mr. 
Cooke  left  "Ogontz,"  not  returning  when 
his  fortunes  mended,  but  instead  convert- 
ing the  mansion  into  a  school  for  girls, 
an  institution  which  acquired  a  national 
reputation  and  in  which  he  always  took 
a  special  interest.  The  last  twenty-five 
years  of  Mr.  Cooke's  life  were  spent  at 
"Eildon,"  the  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Barney,  on  the  York  road.  So  great  was 
Mr.  Cooke's  enjoyment  of  domestic  life 
that  he  never  belonged  to  any  club  but  the 
Union  League  of  which  he  was  one  of  the 
founders. 

It  was  at  "Eildon"  that  Mr.  Cooke 
closed  a  long  and  most  honorable  career, 
a  career  of  noble  service  to  his  City,  his 
State  and  his  Country.  On  February  16, 
1905,  he  breathed  his  last,  leaving  a  record 
in  which  his  descendants,  to  the  remotest 
generation,  may  take  just  and  worthy 
pride.  He  was  a  man  of  marvellous  gifts, 
for  with  the  brain  of  a  great  financier  he 
possessed  a  heart  that  "loved  his  fellow- 
men." 

Among  the  many  tributes  offered  to  the 
character  and  work  of  Mr.  Cooke  was  the 
following,  taken,  in  part,  from  a  Philadel- 
phia paper: 

The  death  of  Jay  Cooke,  the  veteran  financier, 
must  cause  a  sigh  of  regret  as  wide  as  this  con- 
tinent. While  his  great  work  was  finished  long 
ago  he  lingered  as  a  living  reminder  of  two 
memorable  epochs  with  which  his  name  was  in- 
separalably  linked.  In  the  one  he  was  the  master 
spirit  and  in  the  other  he  was  the  supreme  un- 
fortunate. These  two  epochs  covered  the  period 
of  the  Civil  War  and  the  great  panic  of  1873. 
While  from  the  first  he  emerged  with  unparalleled 
financial  power,  world-wide  fame  and  a  great 
fortune  and  from  the  second  he  walked  forth  a 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


penniless  man,  he  came  from  both  with  an  equal 
measure  of  personal  honor  and  credit. 

Jay  Cooke  was  the  financier  of  the  Union  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War.  Not  only  was  he  the  banker 
who  sold  for  the  United  States  government  many 
hundred  millions  of  bonds,  but  the  patriot  who 
preached  faith  in  the  Union  when  even  strong 
men  halted.  His  banking  house  in  Third  street 
was  the  cornucopia  from  which  flowed  a  steady 
and  powerful  stream  of  gold  to  feed  the  national 
treasury.  The  government  asked  of  him  no  serv- 
ice in  the  field  of  finance  that  was  too  hazardous 
for  him  to  perform  successfully.  No  burden  in 
the  shape  of  unmarketable  bonds  was  too  heavy 
for  him  to  carry.  There  was  real  heroism  in  some 
of  the  deeds  by  which  Jay  Cooke  maintained  the 
credit  of  the  Nation  and  so  kept  the  Federal 
armies  in  the  field  and  the  Union's  warships  on 
the  seas.  This  splendid  service  was  fully  recog- 
nized by  Lincoln  and  Grant.  Without  a  Cooke 
the  mighty  plans  of  those  two  could  not  have  been 
carried  on  so  triumphantly. 

When  the  war  was  over  the  banker-patriot 
turned  his  vast  abilities  in  many  directions  and 
prospered.  He  projected  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad,  but  as  he  often  said  himself  afterwards, 
"the  Franco-Prussian  war  came  a  few  days  too 
soon."  The  fifty  million  dollars  pledged  by  Euro- 
pean bankers  was  withdrawn  when  that  conflict 
started  and  Cooke  was  unable  to  float  the  enter- 
prise in  America.  This  eventually  led  to  his  own 
failure  and  the  dismal  panic  of  1873.  To  his 
everlasting  honor  this  man,  who  had  financed  the 
Nation  during  a  long  and  costly  war,  paid  to  his^-' 
creditors  every  dollar  that  he  owed  them.  There 
was  no  shrinking  nor  evasion.     Jay  Cooke  met 


More  than  half  a  century  has  elapsed 
since  this  man  of  heroic  memory  stretched 
forth  his  strong  hand  to  enable  us  to  re- 
main an  undivided  Nation.  A  new  era 
has  dawned.  The  mists  of  detraction  are 
dispelled  and  we  see  his  action  in  its  true 
light  as  the  action  of  a  man  whose  su- 
preme passion  was  love  of  country.  But 
the  day  of  perfect  comprehension  and  ap- 
preciation— which  will  surely  come — has 
not  yet  arrived,  for  the  human  race  must 
reach  a  higher  level  than  it  has  now  at- 
tained before  it  can  render  full  justice  to 
this  great-souled,  pure-hearted  patriot. 


COOKE,  Jay,  Jr. 

Financier. 

The  name  of  the  late  Jay  Cooke,  Jr., 
banker,  is  one  of  those  accorded  the  trib- 
ute of  wide  recognition  in  his  home  city 
of  Philadelphia  and  the  far  more  valuable 
homage  never  given  save  to  worth  of 
character  and  rectitude  of  life. 
/Jay  Cooke,  Jr.,  son  of  Jay  and  Dorothea 
Elizabeth  (Allen)  Cooke,  was  born  Aug- 
ust 10,  1845,  in  °ld  Congress  Hall  (a 
hotel),  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania. 
While  he  was  still  a  youth  the  stirring 
events  of  the  Civil  War  aroused  in  him 


the  patriotic  ardor  which  has  always  been 
personal  disaster  as  courageously  as  he  had  faced  characteristic  of  his^&^Wd'.he  enlisted 
national  catastrophe  and  '  ' 


ikewise  triumphed 
Philadelphia  has  a  peculiar  right  to  feel  proud 
of  Jay  Cooke.  He  was  one  of  a  trio  of  her 
sons,  or  adopted  sons,  who  supplied  their  coun- 
try with  funds  in  war-time.  Robert  Morris  was 
the  financier  of  the  Revolution.  Stephen  Girard 
advanced  millions  in  the  struggle  of  1812.  Jay 
Cooke  financed  the  cause  of  the  Union  during  the 
Rebellion. 

Personally  the  veteran  banker  was  lovable,  gen- 
tle and  philanthropic.  He  seemed  to  radiate  sun- 
shine. He  was  an  optimist  who  saw  good  all 
around  him.  He  believed  in  his  fellowmen  and  in 
his  country  and  he  helped  both.  He  bore  his 
unequalled  triumph  no  more  serenely  than  his 
misfortune.  Jay  Cooke's  long  and  useful  life  was 
crowded  with  incidents  that  ought  to  be  at  once 
a  hope  and  an  inspiration  for  every  American. 


in  the  Gray  Reserves.  Those  were  the 
days  when  General  Lee  carried  the  war 
into  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Cooke  was 
under  fire  at  Carlisle  very  shortly  before 
the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  On  that  famous 
field  his  regiment  was  not  represented, 
but  later  did  good  service  in  the  vicinity 
of  Hagerstown. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  war 
Mr.  Cooke  became  a  partner  in  his  fa- 
ther's famous  banking  house,  and  in  1869 
became  a  member  of  the  Philadelphia 
Stock  Exchange,  maintaining  his  connec- 
tion with  that  body  to  the  close  of  his  life. 
He  also  occupied  a  seat  on  the  board  of 


J&t^&^s,{y/?- 


4^c\SlJ(jL^ 


fr/V-^^c^c/ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


directors  of  the  Guarantee  Trust  Com- 
pany. After  the  memorable  financial 
crash  of  1873,  when  even  the  great  house 
of  Jay  Cooke  &  Company  failed  to  weath- 
er the  storm,  Jay  Cooke,  Jr.,  formed  the 
banking  house  of  C.  D.  Barney  &  Com- 
pany with  Mr.  Barney  his  brother-in-law. 
"  He  later  retired  from  partnership  in  this 
firm. 

The  same  spirit  of  patriotism  which  had 
led  Mr.  Cooke,  when  a  youth  of  eighteen, 
to  enroll  himself  among  the  defenders  of 
the  Union  made  him,  in  his  maturer 
years,  a  man  truly  civic-spirited,  and  ac- 
tive in  all  projects  which  in  his  judgment 
tended  to  further  municipal  reform  and 
impart  strength  to  the  cause  of  good 
government.  His  political  principles 
were  those  advocated  by  the  Republican 
party.  He  was  bountiful  in  his  charities, 
but  preferred  that  his  benefactions  should 
be  bestowed  with  an  entire  absence  of 
ostentation.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Episcopal  church.  He  belonged  to  the 
Union  League,  the  Huntingdon  Valley 
Country  Club  and  several  clubs  of  New 
York  City.  Mr.  Cooke  was  a  man  of 
most  attractive  personality,  quiet  and 
somewhat  undemonstrative,  but  reveal- 
ing in  the  intercourse  of  daily  life  a  rare 
capacity  for  friendship  and  a  nature  rich 
in  those  qualities  which  endear  a  man  to 
all  those  of  whatever  class  who  are  in  any 
way  associated  with  him. 

On  April  23,  1868,  Mr.  Cooke  married 
Clara  Alice,  daughter  of  the  late  J.  Bar- 
low and  Elizabeth  (Hirons)  Moorhead, 
of  Philadelphia.  On  another  page  of  this 
volume  may  be  found  a  full  account  of  the 
Moorhead  family  with  a  portrait  of  J. 
Barlow  Moorhead  and  the  Moorhead 
Arms.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cooke  became  the 
parents  of  two  children:  1.  Caroline 
Clara,  born  August  29,  1870;  became  the 
wife  of  Robert  Wilder  Bush,  of  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  and  has  a  daughter,  Alice 


Gardner  Bush,  born  February  24,  1901. 
2.  Jay,  born  April  22,  1872;  member  of 
the  banking  house  of  C.  D.  Barney  & 
Company,  Philadelphia  and  New  York; 
married  Nina  Louise  Benson,  daughter 
of  the  late  Edwin  North  Benson,  of  Phil- 
adelphia, and  has  a  son:  Jay,  born  April 
2,  1897,  now  a  first  lieutenant  in  the 
United  States  Army.  Jay  Cooke,  Jr.,  was 
a  man  of  strong  family  affections  and  had 
the  joy  of  seeing  in  his  son  the  develop- 
ment of  those  talents  which  he  himself 
had  inherited  from  his  father.  Jay  Cooke, 
the  third,  is  now  a  leader  in  the  financial 
world  of  Philadelphia  and  manifests  the 
patriotic  spirit  of  his  race  by  his  activity 
in  government  work  for  the  prosecution 
of  the  present  war  with  Germany,  being 
federal  food  controller  of  Philadelphia 
county. 

In  the  latter  years  of  his  life  Mr.  Cooke 
withdrew  from  the  turmoil  of  the  financial 
arena,  and  on  December  16,  1912,  he 
passed  away,  being  still  in  the  full  matur- 
ity of  his  powers.  While  inheriting  his 
father's  powers,  he  was  not  granted  an 
equally  conspicuous  opportunity  for  their 
exercise,  but  in  his  own  day,  albeit  not 
of  such  signal  storm  and  stress,  he  stood 
forth  as  a  man  of  the  noblest  motives  and 
the  highest  purposes. 


BARNEY,  Charles  Dennis, 

Man   of   Affairs. 

Among  the  solid  business  men  of  Phil- 
adelphia must  be  numbered  Charles  D. 
Barney,  a  prominent  representative  of 
the  banking  interests  of  that  city,  and 
officially  connected  with  many  other  busi- 
ness institutions. 

Charles  Dennis  Barney  was  born  in 
Sandusky,  Ohio,  July  9,  1844.  His  father, 
Charles  Barney,  a  native  of  New  York, 
became  a  grain  merchant  of  Sandusky, 
where  he  conducted  an  extensive  business 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


until  his  death,  which  occurred  at  the 
comparatively  early  age  of  thirty-seven 
years,  one  of  the  victims  of  the  cholera 
epidemic  of  1849.  He  was  well  known 
for  his  charity  and  philanthropy.  The 
ancestry  of  the  family  is  traced  back  in 
direct  line  to  Jacob  Barney,  who  sailed 
from  England  in  1634  and  settled  at  Sal- 
em, Massachusetts.  The  mother,  Eliza- 
beth Caldwell  (Dennis)  Barney,  was  a 
representative  of  an  old  New  York  fam- 
ily ;  her  maternal  uncle  was  a  lifelong 
friend  of  Eleutheros  Cooke,  the  father  of 
Jay  Cooke,  and  emigrated  to  Ohio  with 
him.  Mrs.  Barney  passed  away  Decem- 
ber 16,  1908. 

Charles  D.  Barney  received  his  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools  of  Sandusky, 
and  afterward  spent  two  years  in  the 
hardware  store  of  an  uncle  there,  subse- 
quent to  which  time  he  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan.  A  year  later,  how- 
ever, he  left  that  school  to  enlist  in  the 
one  hundred  days'  service,  doing  guard 
duty  in  Washington  during  that  period. 
When  mustered  out  he  secured  a  position 
in  the  Second  National  Bank  of  Sandusky, 
the  president  of  which  was  L.  S.  Hub- 
bard, the  first  employer  of  Jay  Cooke,  the 
financier.  Mr.  Barney  remained  in  the 
bank  until  September,  1867,  as  clerk  and 
bookkeeper,  after  which  he  came  to  Phil- 
adelphia, and  on  September  18,  1867,  en- 
tered the  office  of  Jay  Cooke  &  Company, 
bankers,  with  whom  he  remained  until 
December,  1873,  when  in  connection  with 
Jay  Cooke,  Jr.,  he  established  the  firm  of 
Charles  D.  Barney  &  Company,  bankers 
and  brokers.  In  July,  1907,  he  retired 
from  this  firm,  after  thirty-four  years' 
association  with  the  business  as  its  head. 
The  business,  however,  is  still  continued 
under  the  old  firm  name  with  J.  Horace 
Harding,  Jay  Cooke,  the  third,  and  others 
as  the  present  partners. 


Although  practically  retired,  Mr.  Bar- 
ney still  holds  various  directorships.  He 
is  trustee  of  the  Penn  Mutual  Life  In- 
surance Company,  director  of  the  Hunt- 
ingdon &  Broad  Top  Mountain  Railroad 
&  Coal  Company,  and  director  of  the 
Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society  of  New 
York.  He  is  president  of  the  Hahne- 
mann Medical  College  and  Hospital.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Union  League,  Hunt- 
ingdon and  Valley  Country  clubs,  of 
Philadelphia;  the  Bankers  Club  of  New 
York,  Ohio  Society  of  Philadelphia,  Ohio 
Society  of  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania 
Society  in  New  York.  He  is  rector's 
warden  and  one  of  the  oldest  vestrymen 
of  St.  Paul's  Church  (Cheltenham), 
Ogontz,  where  he  succeeded  Jay  Cooke 
as  rector's  warden  in  1905.  He  has  also 
been  actively  identified  with  its  Sunday 
school  for  many  years  and  has  been  its 
superintendent  since  1900.  In  politics 
Mr.  Barney  is  a  Republican,  and  every- 
thing pertaining  to  the  welfare  and  prog- 
ress of  his  city  finds  in  him  a  warm  sup- 
porter. As  a  progressive  business  man 
he  is  regarded  as  a  safe  adviser,  his  en- 
terprise being  tempered  by  a  wise  con- 
servatism, and  for  the  same  reason  his 
influence  is  potent  in  all  boards  upon 
which  he  serves. 

On  April  22,  1869,  Mr.  Barney  married 
Laura  E.,  eldest  daughter  of  Jay  Cooke, 
of  Philadelphia,  and  they  are  the  parents 
of  the  following  children  :  Dorothea,  wife 
of  J.  Horace  Harding,  of  New  York ;  Eliz- 
abeth, wife  of  John  H.  Whittaker,  of 
Philadelphia ;  Katherine,  wife  of  Joseph 
S.  Bunting,  of  New  York;  Emily,  wife  of 
Baron  Friederich  Hiller  von  Gaertring- 
en ;  Laura,  wife  of  Henry  M.  Watts,  of 
Ogontz,  Philadelphia ;  and  Carlotta,  wife 
of  Archibald  B.  Hubbard.  A  man  of 
strong  domestic  tastes,  Mr.  Barney  finds 
.in  his  home  the  sources  of  his  highest 
happiness. 


102 


T  ^Xt^pMA^r^      > 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


McCALMONT,  John  E., 
Lawyer. 

The  twentieth  century  lawyers  of  Pitts- 
burgh, that  is  to  say,  those  who  have 
come  in  with  the  century  and  are  there- 
fore not  beyond  early  middle  life,  con- 
stitute an  increasingly  influential  class 
among  representatives  of  the  bar.  Among 
them  John  E.  McCalmont,  now  in  the 
fifteenth  year  of  a  successful  practice, 
holds  a  leading  position.  Mr.  McCal- 
mont is  identified  with  the  club  life  of 
the  metropolis  and  also  with  her  religious 
interests.  John  E.  McCalmont  was  born 
November  29,  1878,  in  Washington 
county,  Pennsylvania,  and  is  a  son  of 
James  Proudfit  and  Mary  Catherine  (Mc- 
Farland)  McCalmont.  The  McCalmont 
family  is  of  Scotch-Irish  origin  and  has 
been  for  many  generations  resident  in 
the  United  States. 

The  elementary  education  of  John  E. 
McCalmont  was  received  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  county  whence  he 
passed  to  the  Ingleside  Academy  at  Mc- 
Donald, Pennsylvania.  He  then  entered 
Westminster  College,  New  Wilmington, 
Pennsylvania,  and  in  1900  received  from 
that  institution  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts.  It  was  in  the  Law  School  of  the 
Western  University  of  Pennsylvania 
(now  the  University  of  Pittsburgh)  that 
he  pursued  his  legal  studies,  graduating 
in  1903  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws.  Immediately  thereafter  Mr.  Mc- 
Calmont entered  upon  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  the  office  of  Henry  A.  Davis, 
remaining  until  the  death  of  Mr.  Davis, 
which  occurred  in  March,  1910.  Some 
years  prior  to  that  event  Mr.  McCalmont 
had  established  an  independent  reputa- 
tion for  the  possession  of  those  qualities 
which  go  to  the  making  of  a  successful 
lawyer  and  this  reputation  has  ever  since 


steadily  increased.  Since  the  death  of 
Mr.  Davis  he  has  had  no  business  asso- 
ciate and  has  become  widely  and  favor- 
ably known  as  a  general  practitioner. 

Deeply  imbued  as  he  is  with  the  spirit 
of  good  citizenship  Mr.  McCalmont  never 
loses  an  opportunity  of  co-operating  in 
any  cause  which  he  deems  calculated  to 
promote  municipal  reform  or  in  any  way 
to  further  the  best  interests  of  the  com- 
munity. He  belongs  to  the  Allegheny 
County  Bar  Association,  and  his  clubs 
are  the  Duquesne,  University,  Americus 
and  Pitt  Handball.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  United  Presbyterian  church. 

The  personality  of  Mr.  McCalmont  is 
that  of  a  man  of  strength  of  character, 
tenacity  of  purpose  and  clarity  of  vision. 
All  these  are  constantly  brought  into  play 
in  his  work  at  the  bar,  as  is  also  the  tact 
which  enables  him  to  deal  wisely  and  suc- 
cessfully with  men  widely  differing  in 
motive,  disposition  and  environment. 
His  appearance  and  manner  are  those  of 
such  a  man  as  we  have,  in  the  foregoing 
outline,  inadequately  endeavored  to  de- 
scribe. He  is  well  liked  and  numbers 
many  friends  both  within  and  without 
the  pale  of  his  profession. 

Mr.  McCalmont  married,  August  18, 
1915,  Sidney  A.,  daughter  of  Matthew 
and  Priscilla  (McGinnis)  Robinson,  of 
Pittsburgh,  and  they  are  the  parents  of 
one  child:  Agnes  Louise.  Both  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  McCalmont,  the  latter  a  woman  of 
most  attractive  personality,  are  thorough- 
ly domestic  in  taste  and  feeling,  and  find 
one  of  their  greatest  pleasures  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  hospitality. 

The  record  of  John  E.  McCalmont,  as 
it  now  stands,  justifies  the  belief  that,  in 
its  completed  form,  it  will  constitute  a 
worthy  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  Pitts- 
burgh bar. 


193 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


SIMPSON,  G.  Wallace, 

Mortgage  Broker. 

Well  known  among  the  younger  gen- 
eration of  business  men  in  Philadelphia 
is  G.  Wallace  Simpson,  mortgage  broker, 
who  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsyl- 
vania, July  22,  1877,  son  °f  tne  late  Lewis 
P.  and  Sarah  (Price)  Simpson.  Lewis  P. 
Simpson,  father  of  G.  Wallace  Simpson, 
was  one  of  Philadelphia's  best  known  real 
estate  dealers ;  his  death  occurred  in 
May,  1908. 

G.  Wallace  Simpson  received  his  edu- 
cation in  the  public  and  private  schools 
of  Philadelphia,  and  then  entered  the  real 
estate  business,  being  associated  with  his 
father,  the  firm  name  being  L.  P.  Simp- 
son &  Son.  This  continued  until  the 
death  of  the  elder  Simpson,  in  1908,  at 
which  time  Mr.  Simpson  changed  his  line 
of  endeavor,  and  has  since  specialized  as 
a  mortgage  broker.  In  this  he  has  won 
a  commanding  position,  and  has  placed 
mortgages  on  some  of  the  city's  finest 
buildings,  among  them  being  the  Belle- 
vue-Stratford  Hotel,  the  St.  James  Hotel, 
Lennox  Apartments,  Swarthmore  Apart- 
ments, and  the  recently  completed  Medi- 
cal Arts  Building,  corner  Walnut  and 
Sixteenth  streets.  The  scope  of  Mr. 
Simpson's  activities  are  not  confined  to 
Philadelphia,  but  extend  as  far  as  the 
Pacific  coast,  where  he  has  been  success- 
ful in  placing  many  large  mortgages.  He 
is  also  vice-president  and  director  of  the 
Medical  Arts  Realty  Company,  of  Phil- 
adelphia. In  politics  Mr.  Simpson  is  a 
Republican,  but  has  never  held  office. 
tVmong  his  clubs  is  the  New  York  Ath- 
letic. 

On  October  4,  1900,  Mr.  Simpson  mar- 
ried Charlotte  E.,  daughter  of  Captain 
John  and  Frances  Livers,  of  Boston, 
Massachusetts. 


MILNE,  Caleb  Jones, 

Man   of  Affairs,   Philanthropist. 

If  success  is  to  be  measured  by  indus- 
trial achievement,  by  distinguished  effort 
in  many  public  charities  and  benevolent 
projects,  and  by  the  holding  of  offices  of 
responsibility  and  honor,  the  life  of  Caleb 
Jones  Milne,  of  Philadelphia,  conveys  a 
lesson  to  those  who  would  emulate  his 
career. 

The  characteristics  of  his  Scotch  fore- 
bears, unceasing  energy  and  insistent  de- 
termination, were  derived  from  his  father, 
David  Milne  (1787-1873)  who  had  come 
from  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  in  1827;  and 
through  his  mother,  Beulah  Thomas 
(Parker)  Milne  (1810-1887)  of  old  Eng- 
lish Quaker  ancestry,  he  inherited  those 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart  that  have 
made  the  Quaker  sect  respected  and  es- 
teemed for  its  integrity  and  uprightness. 

He  was  born  January  4,  1839,  at  the 
family  home,  No.  7  Church  street,  Phil- 
adelphia, Pennsylvania,  adjoining  old 
Christ  Church,  the  second  son  and  third 
child  of  his  parents.  Even  then,  the  boys' 
boarding  school  was  popular,  for  at  eight 
years  of  age  he  was  sent  with  his  brother, 
Francis  Forbes,  two  years  his  senior,  to 
"Inverary  Farm,"  at  New  Britain,  near 
Doylestown,  Pennsylvania,  where  George 
Murray,  a  noted  Scotch  educator,  had 
about  thirty  scholars.  In  1850-51  he  was 
a  pupil  at  the  Episcopal  Academy.  Hav- 
ing slight  inclination  to  study,  but  being 
exceedingly  industrious  by  disposition, 
he  entered  in  1855  the  mill  of  his  father, 
"The  Caledonia  Factory,"  Nos.  1818-1830 
Lombard  street,  a  manufactory  of  cotton 
and  woolen  goods,  where  now  stands  the 
Polyclinic  section  of  the  Medico-Chir- 
urgical  Graduate  School  of  Medicine  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
business  had  been  established  by  his 
father  in   1830,  under  the  firm  name  of 


194 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


David  Milne,  changed  to  David  Milne  & 
Son  in  1836  when  his  son,  James  Milne 
(1810-1865),  became  a  partner.  In  1859 
David  Milne  retired  and  his  three  sons, 
James,  Francis  Forbes  and  Caleb  Jones, 
continued  the  business  as  Milne  Brothers. 
In  1865  James  Milne  died  and  upon  the 
withdrawal  of  Francis  Forbes  Milne 
(1837-1912),  in  1868,  the  firm  name  be- 
came C.  J.  Milne.  About  this  time  the 
mercantile  office,  which  since  the  begin- 
ning had  been  at  No.  21  Church  alley 
(changed  later  to  No.  227  Church  street) 
was  moved  to  No.  118  Chestnut  street. 

In  1886,  eighteen  years  later,  Mr.  Milne 
took  his  two  sons,  David  and  Caleb  Jones, 
Jr.,  the  present  members  of  the  firm,  into 
partnership  and  changed  the  title  to  C.  J. 
Milne  &  Sons,  under  which  style  the 
business  is  continued  by  the  third  genera- 
tion of  the  Milne  family.  During  this 
long  period  of  nearly  eighty  years  a  great 
variety  of  goods  have  been  made,  dress 
goods,  shirtings,  flannels,  linings,  tick- 
ings, bunting,  cotton  cheviots,  men's 
wear,  silk  goods  >and  other  classes  of 
fabrics  too  numerous  to  mention. 

During  the  Civil  War,  1862-1863,  Caleb 
Jones  Milne  engaged  actively  in  the  work 
of  the  United  States  Christian  Commis- 
sion. Valuable  services  were  rendered 
by  him  at  Falmouth,  Virginia,  City  Point, 
Virginia,  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  at 
other  places,  in  caring  for  the  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers  both  in  the  field  and  in 
the  hospital.  At  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War  his  energies  were  directed  again  to 
the  promotion  and  enlargement  of  his 
textile  interests.  He  acquired  an  addi- 
tional mill  at  Twenty-first  and  Naudain 
str.eets,  and  in  1883  leased  part  of  the 
Bruner  mill  at  Twenty-second  and  Ham- 
ilton streets,  and  also  a  mall  in  Frank- 
ford,  Pennsylvania.  In  1887  all  of  his 
textile  interests  were  concentrated  on  the 
Brandywine  creek,  near  Wilmington,  Del- 


aware, in  what  were  then  known  as  the 
"Brandywine  Cotton  Mills,"  where  he 
continued  to  manufacture  until  1895.  In 
1896  he  occupied  the  extensive  buildings 
he  had  built  in  Philadelphia  on  Washing- 
ton avenue,  extending  from  Tenth  to 
Eleventh  streets,  on  the  ground  formerly 
occupied  by  the  Macpelah  Cemetery. 

His  activity  in  commercial  life  led  him 
to  invest  in  numerous  industrial,  mercan- 
tile and  financial  corporations.  He  was 
president  of  the  American  District  Tele- 
graph Company,  and  for  some  years  was 
president  of  the  Peerless  Brick  Company 
of  Philadelphia.  This  company  was 
noted  for  the  excellence  of  its  pressed 
bricks  and  ornamental  shapes  which  were 
manufactured  on  a  large  plot  of  ground 
(sixty-eight  acres  in  extent)  at  Old  York 
road  and  Nicetown  lane.  The  ground  is 
now  occupied  by  the  offices  and  car-barns 
of  the  Philadelphia  Rapid  Transit  Com- 
pany. In  1872-73  he  served  as  president 
of  the  Bank  of  America  when  it  was  lo- 
cated at  No.  306  Walnut  street.  He  had 
assisted  in  organizing  that  bank,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  United 
Security  Life  Insurance  and  Trust  Com- 
pany of  Pennsylvania.  In  addition  he 
held  directorships  in  the  Insurance  Com- 
pany of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the 
American  Security  and  Trust  Company, 
of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  in  the  corpor- 
ation of  Finch,  Van  Slyck  &  McConville, 
of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  the  leading  whole- 
sale dry  goods  firm  of  the  Northwest. 

Mr.  Milne's  philanthropy  associated 
him  with  many  charitable  institutions. 
He  was  one  of  the  incorporators  and  was 
president  for  thirty-three  years  (1878- 
1912),  of  the  Pennsylvania  Working 
Home  for  Blind  Men,  the  original  insti- 
tution of  its  kind  in  the  United  States ;  a 
trustee  for  thirty-seven  years  (1875-1912) 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Institution  for  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb ;  a  manager  of  the  How- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


ard  Hospital  for  forty  years ;  and  he  was 
for  ten  years  (1883-1893),  president  of 
the  Southern  Home  for  Destitute  Child- 
ren. He  was  a  member  of  the  advisory 
board  of  the  Hahnemann  Hospital,  and 
was  connected  likewise  with  the  Phila- 
delphia Home  for  Incurables.  While 
president  of  the  Pennsylvania  Prison  So- 
ciety he  was  appointed,  in  1889,  by  Gov- 
ernor Beaver,  one  of  the  inspectors  of  the 
Eastern  State  Penitentiary,  at  Philadel- 
phia, at  which  time  Richard  Vaux  was 
president  of  the  board.  In  this  executive 
position  he  assiduously  aimed  to  accom- 
plish the  moral  and  social  regeneration  of 
prisoners  that  they  might  be  reformed 
and  rehabilitated.  The  same  year  he  was 
appointed  a  commissioner  to  represent 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  at  the  Univer- 
sal Exposition  held  in  Paris.  In  1894 
Governor  Robert  E.  Pattison  appointed 
him  a  delegate-at-large  to  represent  the 
Commonwealth  at  the  Congress  of  the 
National  Prison  Association  of  the  United 
States. 

Generous  and  liberal,  his  gifts  to  ben- 
evolent and  charitable  institutions  were 
many,  but  the  majority  of  his  benefac- 
tions were  unknown  except  to  the  recip- 
ients. There  are  records  of  free  beds  in 
perpetuity  having  been  established  by 
him  in  the  following  hospitals :  The  Hah- 
nemann, the  Medico-Chirurgical,  the 
Pennsylvania,  the  Polyclinic,  the  Pres- 
byterian and  in  the  Philadelphia  Home 
for  Incurables.  Numerous  testimonials 
were  passed  after  his  death  expressive  of 
the  esteem  and  regard  in  which  Mr.  Milne 
was  held  by  the  various  boards  of  which 
he  was  a  member.  The  following  resolu- 
tion, passed  by  the  board  of  directors  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Institution  for  the  Deaf 
and  Dumb,  on  July  24,  1912,  is  one  of 
many: 

Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Directors  hereby 
record  the  loss  the  Institution  has  sustained  by 


the  sudden  death,  in  London,  England,  of  Mr. 
Caleb  J.  Milne,  a  member  of  the  Board  since 
February  3,  1875.  During  Mr.  Milne's  long  serv- 
ice as  a  member  of  the  Board  he  was  punctual  in 
attendance  upon  his  duties  and  took  the  kindli- 
est and  most  generous  interest  in  the  work  of  the 
Institution.  After  his  election  he  was  assigned  to 
duty  upon  the  then  Executive  Committee  and 
served  as  a  member  of  that  Committee  until  Feb- 
ruary, 1879,  when  he  was  appointed  a  member  of 
the  Committee  on  Buildings  and  Repairs.  He 
served  upon  this  latter  Committee  until  1881, 
when  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Household  and  upon  this  Committee  he 
served  continuously  up  to  the  date  of  his  unfortu- 
nate death.  As  a  member  of  the  Board  and  of 
different  Committees  to  which  he  was  appointed, 
Mr.  Milne  was  always  a  faithful  member 'and 
ready  and  willing  to  do  his  utmost  for  the  welfare 
of  the  Institution.  Except  when  he  was  pre- 
vented by  illness  or  absence  from  the  City  he 
never  failed  to  perform  the  duties  assigned  to 
him,  and  during  a  period  of  more  than  thirty- 
seven  years  he  gave  freely  of  his  time  and  means 
to  help  the  Institution  and  make  its  teachers  and 
pupils  comfortable  and  happy.  As  a  member  of 
the  Committee  on  Household  he  was  especially 
scrupulous  in  the  performance  of  his  duty,  and 
many  of  the  little  comforts  that  the  pupils  from 
time  to  time  enjoyed  were  due  to  his  forethought 
and  liberality. 

For  nearly  forty  years  he  was  a  mem- 
ber and  a  bountiful  contributor  to  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  Nineteenth  and  Walnut  streets, 
in  which  his  memory  is  perpetuated  by  a 
handsome  memorial  window.  His  memr 
bership  in  social,  patriotic  and  other  or- 
ganizations included  the  Union  League, 
Rittenhouse  Club,  Art  Club,  Penn  Club 
(a  former  director),  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, Colonial  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
Corinthian  Yacht  Club,  Church  Club, 
Metropolitan  Club  of  Washington,  D.  C, 
Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  Al- 
bion Society,  Swedish  Colonial  Society, 
Genealogical  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science, 
and  he  was  a  member  of  Union  Lodge, 
No.  121,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons;  Ka- 
96 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


dosh  Commandery,  No.  29,  Knights  Tem- 
plar; a  Thirty-second  degree  Mason.  For 
fifty-two  years  a  member  of  Saint  An- 
drews Society  of  Philadelphia,  at  one 
time  its  president  (1886-87),  he  took  a 
deep  interest  in  its  welfare.  This  society, 
established  in  1749,  the  oldest  purely 
Scotch  society  in  the  United  States,  es- 
pecially attracted  him  because  it  repre- 
sented the  land  of  his  ancestors.  He  as- 
sisted in  increasing  its  permanent  funds 
and  in  many  other  ways  was  helpful  to 
the  society.  Chiefly  through  his  instru- 
mentality its  Historical  Catalogue  of  1907 
was  published,  a  volume  of  importance  on 
account  of  the  rare  biographical  records. 

He  traveled  extensively  both  in  the 
United  States  and  in  Europe.  His  first 
trip  to  the  Continent  was  with  his  family 
in  1875.  After  that  he  crossed  the  Atlan- 
tic ocean  eighteen  times.  One  of  the  re- 
sults of  his  travels  was  a  choice  collec- 
tion of  paintings  and  porcelains  that 
adorned  his  town  house,  No.  2030  Walnut 
street.  Genial  and  magnetic,  cordial  and 
companionable,  travel  was  a  source  of 
great  pleasure  to  him,  and  he  was  a  wel- 
come guest  wherever  he  went. 

In  1883  he  acquired  from  the  estate  of 
Archibald  Campbell,  "Roslyn  Manor," 
a  country  seat  on  School  House  lane, 
Germantown,  nine  miles  from  Philadel- 
phia. The  grounds,  which  include  nearly 
fifty  acres,  border  on  the  Wissahickon 
Drive  of  Fairmount  Park  and  contain  a 
large  granite  residence  that  almost  over- 
looks the  Schuylkill  river.  In  1858  he 
married  Sarah  Margaretta  Shea,  a  daugh- 
ter of  John  Shea  ( 1800-1864)  and  Susan- 
na Barbara  (Wolff)  Shea  (1807-1886), 
of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  They  had 
two  sons:  David,  whose  sketch  follows; 
and  Caleb  Jones,  Jr.,  born  1861.  Mrs. 
Milne  died  on  July  30,  1896. 

The  summer  of  1912  Mr.  Milne  went 
to  Europe  for  recreation.    The  third  day 


after  landing  in  Liverpool,  in  London,  on 
June  30,  he  was  knocked  down  by  a  taxi- 
cab  at  Trafalgar  Square  and  was  so  seri- 
ously injured  in  the  head  that  he  died  the 
day  following  at  Charing  Cross  Hospital. 
After  his  remains  were  brought  to  the 
United  States,  services  were  held  on  July 
13,  1912,  at  the  family  country  place, 
"Roslyn  Manor,"  and  interment  was 
made  in  his  burial  lot  at  West  Laurel  Hill 
Cemetery. 


MILNE,  David, 

Manufacturer.  Philanthropist. 

David  Milne  was  born  in  Philadelphia, 
July  24,  1859,  son  of  Caleb  Jones  and 
Sarah  Margaretta  (Shea)  Milne,  and 
grandson  of  David  and  Beulah  Thomas 
(Parker)  Milne.  He  received  his  prelim- 
inary education  at  the  Episcopal  Acad- 
emy, Philadelphia,  and  was  graduated 
with  honors  from  the  Department  of  Arts 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  with 
the  degree  of  B.  A.  in  1881.  In  1883  it 
conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  M.  A. 
and  in  1885  the  degree  of  Ph.  B.  He  was 
treasurer  of  the  class  of  1881,  rowed  on 
various  crews,  and  for  some  years  was 
president  of  the  College  Boat  Club. 

He  began  his  business  career  in  the 
banking  house  of  Robert  Glendenning  & 
Company  in  1881-82.  Since  that  time  he 
has  been  connected  with,  a  partner  since 
1886,  and  now  is  the  senior  member  of 
the  firm  of  C.  J.  Milne  &  Sons.  The  origi- 
nal firm  was  established  in  1830  by  his 
grandfather,  David  Milne,  and  is  one  of 
the  most  extensive  manufacturers  of  tex- 
tiles in  Pennsylvania  and  one  of  the  old- 
est in  the  United  States.  In  addition  to 
this  mercantile  interest  he  was  until  re- 
cently one  of  the  directors  of  Finch,  Van 
Slyck  &  McConville,  of  St.  Paul,  Minne- 
sota, the  largest  wholesale  dry  goods  cor- 
poration in  the  Northwest. 


197 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


He  was  president  of  the  board  of  trust- 
ees of  the  Medico-Chirurgical  College  and 
of  the  Medico-Chirurgical  Hospital  when 
they  merged  with  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania in  1916.  They  are  now  desig- 
nated "The  Medico-Chirurgical  College 
and  Hospital  Graduate  School  of  Medi- 
cine of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania." 
He  is  a  trustee  of  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania ;  is  one  of  the  past  presidents  of 
St.  Andrew's  Society  of  Philadelphia ;  and 
for  some  years  was  secretary  of  the  Num- 
ismatic and  Antiquarian  Society.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  boards  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  the  Hahnemann  Med- 
ical College  and  Hospital,  the  United  Se- 
curity Trust  Company,  the  Sanitarium 
Association  of  Philadelphia,  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Retreat  for  Blind  Mutes  and  Aged 
and  Infirm  Blind  Persons,  the  Polyclinic 
Hospital,  the  Genealogical  Society  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  is  president  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Working  Home  for  Blind 
Men.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Franklin  In- 
stitute, the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences, 
the  American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  the  Athenaeum, 
the  Photographic  Society,  the  Philobiblon 
Club,  the  Pen  and  Pencil  Club,  the  Zoo- 
logical Society,  the  Geographical  Society, 
the  New  England  Society,  the  Swedish 
Colonial  Society  and  other  organizations. 
In  1917  he  was  appointed  by  the  National 
Red  Cross,  treasurer  of  General  Hospital 
No.  1,  intended  for  Sailors  of  the  United 
States  Navy. 

In  lineage  he  extends  in  maternal  lines 
to  noted  Colonial  families  of  New  Eng- 
land and  Pennsylvania.  He  is  ninth  in 
descent  from  Nathaniel  Sylvester  in 
Long  Island,  1652;  eighth  in  descent 
from  James  Lloyd  in  Massachusetts,  1693; 
eighth  in  descent  from  John  Hallowell  in 
Pennsylvania,  1683  ;  eighth  in  decent  from 
Thomas  Clark  in  New  Jersey,  1692 ;  sev- 


enth in  descent  from  Walter  Newberry  in 
Rhode  Island,  1673;  seventh  in  descent 
from  Jedediah  Allen  in  Massachusetts, 
1646;  seventh  in  descent  through  his 
grandmother,  Beulah  Thomas  (Parker) 
Milne,  from  Richard  Parker  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, 1684. 

By  right  of  his  Colonial  ancestors  he 
holds  membership  in  the  Society  of  Col- 
onial Wars,  and  in  the  Colonial  Society 
of  Pennsylvania.  Through  the  patriotic 
services  of  his  great-great-great-grand- 
father, Joseph  Parker,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  in  1776 
and  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  he  was 
made  a  member  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons 
of  the  Revolution.  His  out-of-door  clubs 
are  the  Corinthian  Yacht,  the  Philadel- 
phia Country,  the  Huntingdon  Valley,  the 
Germantown  Cricket  and  the  Merion 
Cricket,  and  his  more  purely  social  clubs 
are  the  University,  Racquet,  Union 
League,  Art,  Penn  and  the  Metropolitan 
of  Washington. 

Mr.  Milne  married,  April  29,  1896, 
Margaret  Love  Skerrett,  daughter  of 
Rear-Admiral  Joseph  S.  Skerrett,  United 
States  Navy,  and  Margaret  Love  (Tay- 
lor) Skerrett,  of  Washington,  D.  C.  He 
has  four  sons :  Norman  Forbes,,  born  July 
19,  1897;  Sidney  Wentworth,  born  Janu- 
ary 10,  1900;  Gordon  Fairfax  and  David 
Dudley,  born  November  10,  1903,  and  re- 
side at  his  beautiful  and  extensive  coun- 
try place,  "Roslyn  Manor,"  on  School 
House  lane,  Germantown,  Pennsylvania, 
an  estate  comprising  nearly  fifty  acres. 


FERENBACH,  Carl, 

Silk  Manufacturer. 

The  passing  of  Carl  Ferenbach,  of 
Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania,  just  in  the 
full  prime  of  his  splendid  manhood,  was 
deeply  regretted,  not  only  by  those  who 
were  near  to  him  in  family  relation  but  by 


198 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


all  who  had  known  him  through  business 
association  or  friendly  intercourse.  He 
was  intimately  connected  with  silk  manu- 
facture, both  in  Pennsylvania  and  New 
Jersey,  but  had  other  important  business 
interests  in  Wilkes-Barre  and  elsewhere. 
He  was  a  native  son  of  New  Jersey,  and 
of  immediate  Scotch  ancestry,  his  father 
born  in  Scotland,  although  the  family 
originally  came  from  the  town  of  Feren- 
bach,  situated  on  the  border  line  between 
Switzerland  and  Germany.  There  the 
Ferenbachs  were  noted  clock  makers,  the 
town  being  named  in  their  honor. 

Gregory  Ferenbach,  father  of  Carl  Fer- 
enbach,  to  whose  memory  this  sketch  is 
dedicated,  was  born  in  Scotland,  and 
there  lived  until  about  his  twentieth  year, 
when  he  came  to  the  United  States,  locat- 
ing his  home  in  Paterson,  New  Jersey. 
He  later  became  a  publisher  in  New  York 
City,  and  for  many  years  conducted  that 
business  very  successfully.  He  married 
Martha  Cushier,  who  comes  of  French  an- 
cestry, her  grandfather  a  prominent  ship 
builder  of  his  day.  They  were  the  parents 
of  Carl  Ferenbach,  of  Wilkes-Barre. 

Carl  Ferenbach  was  born  in  Paterson, 
New  Jersey,  October  9,  1874,  and  died  at 
his  summer  home  at  Glen  Summit,  Penn- 
sylvania, June  21,  1918.  He  was  educated 
in  Paterson  graded  and  high  schools,  fin- 
ishing his  education  so  far  as  school  life 
was  concerned  with  a  course  at  the  Mc- 
Chesney  Business  College.  Paterson  be- 
ing the  principal  seat  of  the  silk  industry 
in  the  United  States,  he  naturally  grav- 
itated into  that  line  of  business  activity, 
becoming  thoroughly  familiar  with  all  the 
details  of  silk  manufacture  and  able  to 
direct  others.  He  remained  in  Paterson 
engrossed  in  the  duties  of  the  responsible 
positions  which  he  held  in  the  silk  mills 
of  the  city  until  the  year  1900,  when  he 
permanently     located     in     Wilkes-Barre, 


Pennsylvania.  There  he  was  manager  of 
the  Bamford  Brothers'  Silk  Mill  for  the 
first  six  years  of  his  residence  in  the  city, 
but  at  the  end  of  that  period  he  formed 
a  partnership  with  Henry  Leon,  of  New 
York  City,  and  himself  became  a  silk 
manufacturer. 

This  last  period  of  his  life,  1906-18,  was 
the  most  successful  of  his  entire  life  and 
brought  him  prominently  into  the  ranks 
of  silk  manufacturers.  The  partnership 
traded  under  the  firm  name,  The  Leon- 
Ferenbach  Silk  Company,  and  established 
their  first  mill  in  Wilkes-Barre.  Mr.  Fer- 
enbach was  a  practical  mill  man,  and  it 
was  through  their  ability  and  energy  that 
the  company  came  to  so  proud  a  position. 
At  the  time  of  his  death,  twelve  years  af- 
ter the  forming  of  the  partnership,  The 
Leon-Ferenbach  Silk  Company  was  op- 
erating five  silk  mills,  the  parent  mill  at 
Wilkes-Barre,  one  at  Sugar  Notch,  Par- 
sons, and  Bradford,  all  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  a  fifth  at  Johnson  City,  Tennessee. 
Their  business  was  immense,  their  em- 
ployees being  numbered  by  the  thousands. 
In  addition  to  this  large  business  built 
up  and  developed  in  an  almost  miracu- 
lously short  time,  Mr.  Ferenbach  was  a 
director  of  the  Luzerne  County  National 
Bank,  director  of  the  J.  E.  Barbour  Con> 
pany  of  Paterson,  New  Jersey,  and  direc- 
tor of  the  Barbour  Linen  Thread  Com- 
pany of  Allentown,  Pennsylvania.  His 
standing  in  these  companies  was  very 
high,  and  at  his  death  fitting  testimonials 
of  respect  and  appreciation  came  from  the 
directorates. 

A  man  of  pleasing  personality  he  pos- 
sessed a  wealth  of  friends  whom  he  held 
to  him  in  closest  relation.  He  loved  the 
sports  of  the  open,  and  with  rifle  and  rod 
usually  spent  his  vacation  periods  where 
game  and  fish  abounded.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Hazleton  Country  Club,  Hazle- 


199 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


ton,  Pennsylvania,  Westmoreland,  Frank- 
lirTand  Wyoming  Valley  Country  clubs, 
member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
and  Saint  Stephen's  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  all  of  Wilkes-Barre.  He  was 
broad-minded  and  liberal  in  his  views, 
deeply  interested  in  all  that  concerned  the 
welfare  of  his  city,  and  always  ready  to 
lend  a  hand  in  any  movement  for  civic 
improvement.  He  joined  heartily  in  the 
movements  connected  with  the  entrance 
of  his  country  into  the  World  War,  and 
of  great  assistance  in  the  various  drives 
to  secure  funds. 

Mr.  Ferenbach  married,  in  New  York 
City,  January  22,  1899,  Evelyn  Campbell, 
ward  of  Colin  Campbell,  of  New  York 
City.  They  are  the  parents  of  four  sons : 
Campbell,  born  January  24,  1900,  who 
died  in  childhood ;  Gregory,  born  Febru- 
ary 2,  1901 ;  John  Cushier,  born  October 
15,  1906;  and  Carl,  born  April  18,  1915. 

Minutes  of  a  meeting  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  the  J.  E.  Barbour  Company  of 
Paterson,  New  Jersey,  is  as  follows : 

In  the  death  of  our  fellow  director,  Carl  Feren- 
bach, while  yet  in  the  fullness  of  his  extraordi- 
nary powers,  with  great  prospect  of  years  of  use- 
fulness before  him,  this  Company  has  suffered 
irreparable  loss.  Since  the  organization  of  our 
Company  he  has  devoted  his  attention  with  great 
carefulness  and  foresight  to  the  management  and 
welfare  of  our  affairs.  In  private  character  he 
was  adrriirable.  His  companionship,  adorned  with 
graces,  was  a  pleasure  to  those  who  shared  it.  In 
every  walk  of  life  he  bore  a  noble  part,  and  there 
is  no  page  of  his  past  that  his  friends  can  wish 
to  seal.  In  token  of  our  esteem  for  the  man,  this 
Company  presents  this  brief  memorial  of  our 
member  who  in  the  flesh  men  knew  as  Carl  Feren- 
bach; 

Be  it  Resolved :  That  this  resolution  be  spread 
at  length  upon  our  minute  book  and  a  copy  prop- 
erly engrossed  be  sent  to  his  family. 

J.  E.  Barbour  Company, 
Frank  S.  Hall,  Sec'y. 
July  16,  1918. 


Resolutions    Adopted    by    the    Luzerne 

County  National  Bank  on  the 

Death  of  Carl  Ferenbach. 

The  president  announced  the  death  of 

Director  Carl  Ferenbach  on  Friday,  June 

21,    and    the    following   resolutions    were 

duly  adopted: 

Whereas,  Mr.  Carl  Ferenbach,  a  director  of  this 
bank,  died  at  his  Glen  Summit  residence  on  Fri- 
day last  after  an  illness  of  several  months. 

And  Whereas,  It  is  the  desire  of  this  Board  of 
Directors  to  place  upon  record  an  appreciation 
of  his  services  as  well  as  an  expression  of  per- 
sonal loss. 

Therefore,  be  it  Resolved,  That  we  extend  to 
his  widow  and  children  our  deepest  sympathy  in 
the  death  of  a  devoted  husband  and  father,  and 
that  we  commend  them  to  the  Father  of  All  who 
alone  can  sustain  them  in  their  bereavement. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Ferenbach 
the  bank  loses  one  who  wa's  faithful  in  the  dis- 
charge of  duty  and  whose  business  judgment  was 
of  real  value  to  the  institution. 

Resolved  Further,  That  in  the  death  of  Mr. 
Ferenbach  the  community  loses  an  upright  citi- 
zen and  one  who  by  his  cheerful  disposition  and 
kindly  dealings  endeared  himself  to  his  many 
friends  and  employees. 

Resolved,  That  this  resolution  be  spread  upon 
the  minutes  of  the  board  and  a  copy  sent  to  Mrs. 
Ferenbach. 

Anthony  L.  Williams,  Pres. 
Christian  Walter,  Sec'y. 
W.  B.  P. 

Dated  June  25,  1918. 

IN  MEMORIAM. 
Carl  Ferenbach. 

The  silk  industry  was  bereft  of  a  prominent 
and  progressive  member  in  the  death  of  Carl 
Ferenbach,  of  the  Leon-Ferenbach  Silk  Company, 
Inc.  Apparently  healthy  and  robust  since  his 
recovery  from  a  serious  operation  last  Novem- 
ber, his  death  came  as  a  distinct  shock  to  his 
family  and  numerous  friends. 

We  mourn  the  passing  of  a  most  popular  mem- 
ber, one  especially  endeared  to  his  employees  by 
the  friendly  spirit  always  prevailing  in  his  contact 
with  them. 

Mr.   Ferenbach   was   born   October  9,    1874,   in 

200 


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ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Paterson,  New  Jersey,  and  educated  in  that  city. 
He  gave  active  support  to  all  patriotic  move- 
ments, was  a  regular  attendant  of  St.  Stephen's 
Episcopal  Church,  and  a  director  of  the  Luzerne 
County  Bank. 

Since  entering  the  Wilkes-Barre  Silk  Company 
as  manager  fifteen  years  ago,  Mr.  Ferenbach  had 
thoroughly  absorbed  the  details  of  the  silk  busi- 
ness and  thereby  made  rapid  strides  in  the  indus- 
try. 

Nine  years  ago,  Henry  Leon  and  Carl  Feren- 
bach entered  partnership,  forming  the  Leon- 
Ferenbach  Silk  Company,  and  started  a  single 
mill.  The  company  has  since  acquired  four  large 
mills  and  employs  several  thousand  men  and 
women. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  Mr.  Ferenbach  was 
but  forty-four  years  of  age  and  a  figure  which 
commanded  attention  in  the  silk  trade  by  reason 
of  his  practical  experience  as  a  throwster.  He 
was  the  first  man  to  change  the  present  improved 
system  of  throwing  organzine. 

His  family  and  friends  will  feel  keenly  the 
breach  caused  by  his  absence. 

Be  it,  therefore,  Resolved,  That  we,  the  Board 
of  Managers  of  the  Silk  Association  of  America, 
do  hereby  give  utterance  to  our  grief  at  the  death 
of  our  esteemed  member,  Carl  Ferenbach,  and  it 
is  hereby  voted  that  this  resolution  be  entered 
in  our  minutes  and  copy  thereof  forwarded  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased. 

Ramsey  PeugnET, 
(Attest)  Secretary. 

New  York,  September  n,  1918. 


WEAVER,  George, 

Business  Man. 

Seventeen  years  have  passed  since 
George  Weaver  passed  from  earthly  view, 
but  his  memory  is  green  and  there  are 
many  loyal  hearts  who  recall  him  with 
affection  and  love.  He  won  high  position 
in  the  business  world  in  which  he  moved, 
through  his  own  untiring  efforts  and  re- 
sourcefulness, backed  by  sound  business 
principles  and  a  genial,  lovable  personal- 
ity. He  was  most  kindly-hearted  and 
charitable,  never  denying  any  reasonable 
demand  upon  his  sympathies.  He  made 
many  acquaintances  and  it  was  literally 


true  that  "every  acquaintance  became  a 
friend."  He  loved  his  home  and  there  his 
genial  hospitable  nature  was  at  its  best. 
He  was  a  son  of  John  Weaver,  who  came 
to  this  country  from  Germany  in  1837. 

George  Weaver  was  born  in  Wilkes- 
Barre,  Pennsylvania,  June  28,  1853,  and 
died  at  his  summer  home  at  Harvey's 
Lake,  Pennsylvania,  August  11,  1901. 
After  attendance  at  the  public  schools 
and  private  school  established  by  Colonel 
Harvey,  he  later  entered  the  office  em- 
ploy of  the  Diamond  Colliery,  and  when 
that  enterprise  was  abandoned  he  trans- 
ferred his  services  to  the  Bailey  Ice  Com- 
pany, a  concern  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected for  some  years.  The  experience 
gained  with  these  companies  was  valu- 
able, and  when  later  he  was  taken  into 
the  employ  of  the  Reichard  Brewing  Com- 
pany, it  was  as  a  well-finished,  capable 
young  man,  willing  and  able  to  perform 
managerial  duty.  He  soon  established  a 
high  reputation  with  the  company,  and  as 
business  increased  rapidly  through  Mr. 
Weaver's  efforts,  he  was  admitted  a  part- 
ner in  the  year  1888.  He  threw  himself 
heartily  into  the  business,  and  later  so 
thoroughly  had  he  mastered  every  detail 
of  the  business  and  so  well-satisfied  was 
he  with  his  own  ability  to  manage  it  suc- 
cessfully, that  when  his  partner,  John 
Reichard,  was  willing  to  withdraw  from 
the  company,  Mr.  Weaver  purchased  his 
interests.  He  renamed  the  firm,  the 
Reichard  &  Weaver  Brewing  Company, 
and  injected  so  much  of  his  own  vigor- 
ous nature  into  the  company  that  it  be- 
came one  of  the  most  valuable  brewing 
properties  in  the  State.  When  the  era  of 
consolidation  was  organized  the  Reichard 
&  Weaver  Brewing  Company  was  greatly 
coveted,  and  finally  it  was  absorbed  by 
the  consolidation,  but  at  Mr.  Weaver's 
price.  He  was  also  elected  vice-president 
of  the  new  concern,  The  Central  Brewing 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Company,  and  held  that  position  in  the 
management  until  his  death  in  1901.  He 
was  also  vice-president  and  director  of  the 
Anthracite  National  Bank  of  Wilkes- 
Barre,  and  had  other  business  interests 
of  but  little  less  importance.  He  con- 
tinued a  factor  in  the  business  world  until 
the  last  and  bore  his  part  of  every  burden. 

His  warm-hearted,  social  nature  de- 
lighted in  the  social  side  of  club  life,  and 
he  was  a  member  of  several  of  the  clubs 
of  Wilkes-Barre  and  Scranton,  including 
the  Westmoreland,  West  End  Wheelmen 
Club  (now  the  Franklin  Club),  and  Elks 
of  the  first  named,  and  the  Scranton  Club 
of  the  last  named  city.  He  was  a  member 
of  St.  Nicholas  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
and  in  his  political  faith  was  a  Republic- 
an. He  knew  no  sect  or  creed  in  char- 
ities, but  to  know  that  help  was  needed 
always  brought  a  ready  and  hearty  re- 
sponse. 

Mr.  Weaver  married,  February  6,  1880, 
Frances  Hartman,  daughter  of  Eusebius 
and  Catherine  (Scheur)  Hartman.  of 
Wilkes-Barre.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Weaver 
were  the  parents  of  five  children:  Eliza- 
beth, married  A.  R.  Ely,  of  Norfolk,  Vir- 
ginia ;  Kathleen,  married  Robert  E.  Smith, 
of  Wilkes-Barre,  and  has  a  son,  Robert 
Weaver  Smith ;  George  P.,  vice-president 
of  the  Perma-Loc  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, a  graduate  of  Harry  Hillman  Acad- 
emy of  Wilkes-Barre,  Wyoming  Seminary 
of  Kingston,  and  Georgetown  University, 
A.  B.,  class  of  1913;  Frank  J.,  educated 
in  the  public  schools  and  at  Wyoming 
Seminary,  now  (1918)  in  the  United 
States  service  at  Officers'  Training  Camp, 
Jacksonville,  Florida;  W.  Walter,  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  and  at  Wyom- 
ing Seminary,  now  in  the  United  States 
artillery  service  in  training  at  Camp  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  for  overseas 
duty.  Mrs.  Weaver  survives  her  husband 
and  continues  her  residence  in  Wilkes- 
Barre. 


BOYLE,  Patrick  Francis, 

Contractor,  Public  Official. 

Patrick  Francis  Boyle,  of  Hazleton, 
Pennsylvania,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
figures  in  the  business  and  political  life 
of  this  part  of  the  State,  head  of  a  great 
contracting  enterprise,  and  identified 
closely  with  municipal  and  State  affairs, 
is  a  fine  example  of  the  best  type  of  those 
Irishmen  who  have  come  to  this  country 
in  early  youth  and  made  themselves  by 
their  talents  and  perseverance  so  import- 
ant an  element  in  our  body  politic.  Pre- 
eminently a  man  of  affairs,  he  has  made 
his  activities  subserve  the  end  of  his  own 
ambition  and  the  welfare  of  his  fellows. 
Hazleton,  which  has  been  the  scene  of 
his  life-long  work  in  connection  with  the 
enterprises  so  closely  associated  with  his 
name,  feels  toward  him  as  a  community 
an  esteem  and  positive  affection  that  is 
rarely  accorded  to  any  man  on  so  large 
scale.  Strong  common  sense,  an  invin- 
cible will,  the  latter  tempered  by  unusual 
tact  and  good  judgment,  are  the  basis  of 
his  character  and  incidentally  of  his  suc- 
cess. 

Mr.  Boyle  is  the  son  of  Patrick  and 
Ellen  Kearney  (Boyle)  Boyle,  both  of 
whom  were  natives  of  Newtown,  County 
Donegal,  Ireland,  where  they  resided 
until  coming  to  the  United  States.  Mr. 
Boyle,  Sr.,  was  reared  in  his  native  dis- 
trict, and  for  a  time  was  engaged  in  agri- 
cultural pursuits,  working  a  farm  that 
had  been  in  possession  of  the  family  for  a 
long  period.  Eventually  he  sold  this 
property  in  order  to  secure  the  money 
needed  by  him  to  come  to  the  United 
States,  after  which  he  set  sail  with  his 
wife,  and  landing  at  the  harbor  of  New 
York,  came  immediately  to  Hazleton, 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  settled  and  made 
his  home  for  a  time.  He  later  removed 
to  the  town  of  Freeland,  where  the  latter 
years  of  his  life  were  spent  and  where  he 


XJatkZcJi^  pa 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


finally  died.  After  coming  to  this  country 
he  followed  coal  mining  as  a  business 
during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  was 
a  good  citizen,  and  a  faithful  member  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  church.  He  and  his 
wife  were  the  parents  of  the  following 
children :  John,  a  Civil  War  veteran,  who 
now  resides  in  Brooklyn ;  Patrick  Fran- 
cis, with  whom  we  are  here  specially 
concerned  ;  James,  a  resident  of  Freeland, 
a  Civil  War  veteran;  Timothy,  who 
makes  his  home  at  Hazelton,  a  Civil  War 
veteran ;  and  Mary,  who  became  the  wife 
of  James  Logan,  of  Freeland,  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Born  March  20,  1844,  in  County  Don- 
egal, Ireland,  Patrick  Francis  Boyle,  sec- 
ond child  of  Patrick  and  Ellen  Kearney 
(Boyle)  Boyle,  spent  his  childhood  in 
his  native  place.  He  attended  as  a  child 
the  local  schools  and  there  gained  the 
major  portion  of  his  education.  He  did 
not  accompany  his  parents  to  the  United 
States,  but  in  1855  followed  them  to  this 
country,  and  came  at  once  to  Hazelton. 
He  attended  for  a  time  the  public  schools 
at  Hazleton  and  here  completed  his  stud- 
ies, at  the  same  time  that  he  was  working 
for  his  living.  His  first  work  was  secured 
in  the  coal  mines  as  a  breaker  boy,  but  he 
soon  gave  this  up  and  followed  the  trade 
of  cabinetmaker  and  carpenter.  He  was 
exceedingly  ambitious  and  energetic,  and 
possessed  a  great  share  of  initiative,  and 
where  most  other  youths  would  have  con- 
tinued at  work  for  an  employer,  he  began 
for  himself,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he 
was  taking  and  performing  good  sized 
contracts  in  this  line.  In  1867  he  removed 
to  Allentown  and  there  continued  his  now 
growing  contract  business,  erecting  many 
important  structures,  and  he  gained  a 
wide  reputation  for  ability  and  strict  ob- 
servance of  his  obligations.  He  put  up 
a   large   number  of   public  buildings   in 


Allentown,  as  well  as  many  handsome 
private  residences  and  office  buildings. 
In  the  year  1877  he  returned  temporarily 
to  Hazelton,  on  account  of  some  special 
work  he  had  contracted  for,  but  after  its 
completion  went  once  more  to  Allen- 
town. He  maintained,  however,  a  strong 
affection  for  his  first  American  home,  and 
eventually,  in  1885,  returned  here  and 
took  up  his  residence  permanently.  Since 
that  time  Mr.  Boyle  has  continued  to  re- 
side here,  and  until  the  year  1914  re- 
mained in  active  business.  Among  the 
prominent  buildings  erected  by  Mr.  Boyle 
at  Hazleton,  Allentown  and  Freeland, 
should  be  mentioned  the  Church  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  at  Allentown; 
St.  Patrick's  Church  and  Parsonage  at 
McAdoo,  Pennsylvania  ;  the  Greek  church 
at  Hazleton  and  the  German  Lutheran 
church  at  the  same  place ;  the  First  Slav- 
ish Church,  the  borough  building,  the  first 
silk  mill  and  the  Reinhart  building,  all  at 
Hazleton.  Besides  these  there  have  been 
a  great  number  of  school  houses  and  pri- 
vate residences  at  Hazleton  and  other 
places  in  the  vicinity.  But  Mr.  Boyle  has 
not  contented  himself  by  undivided  appli- 
cation to  any  one  business  enterprise,  how- 
ever important.  On  the  contrary  he  has, 
with  public  interest  worthy  of  him,  found 
an  interest  in  many  different  aspects  of 
the  business  and  financial  interests  here 
and  has  become  prominently  identified 
with  them.  He  is  at  the  present  time  a  di- 
rector of  the  Markle  Banking  and  Trust 
Company,  president  and  director  of  the 
Diamond  Water  Company,  and  was  for 
sixteen  years  in  the  past,  president  and 
director  of  the  Hazleton  Improvement 
Company,  and  is  also  president  of  St. 
Gabriel's  Cemetery  Association. 

Mr.  Boyle  has  for  many  years  been 
most  closely  identified  with  public  affairs 
in  this  region,  and  during  his  entire  active 


203 


w 


,  I    I  '■  ^B 


'J-£**fl^J 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


life  has  been  a  staunch  supporter  of  the 
principles  and  policies  of  the  Democratic 
party.  He  has  exerted  a  potent  influence 
in  the  councils  of  the  party,  and  has  been 
chosen  many  times  as  a  candidate  for 
public  office  on  its  ticket.  In  1869  he  was 
elected  to  the  Select  Council  of  Allen- 
town,  and  was  thereafter  reelected  until 
he  had  served  three  consecutive  terms  of 
two  years  each  on  that  body,  part  of  the 
time  serving  as  president  of  the  board. 
He  also  served  as  assessor,  as  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Control,  and  represented 
Allentown  as  a  member  of  the  State  Leg- 
islature, 1881-82-83-84.  Upon  coming  to 
live  at  Hazleton  he  continued  his  political 
activities,  and  in  the  two  years  from 
1887  to  1888  was-  a  member  of  the  Bor- 
ough Council  and  part  of  the  time  its 
president.  When  in  the  year  1890  Hazle- 
ton became  a  city,  Mr.  Boyle  was  selected 
as  a  member  of  the  first  Select  Council 
and  served  as  president  of  the  same,  and 
in  1897  and  1898  was  elected  to  the  House 
of  Representatives  by  a  flattering  major- 
ity. Mr.  Boyle  is  a  staunch  member  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  church  and  attends 
St.  Gabriel's  Church  of  this  denomination. 
He  is  active  in  the  work  of  the  parish  and 
is  a  member  of  the  Holy  Name  Society 
here. 

Patrick  Francis  Boyle  married  (first) 
in  1868,  at  Allentown,  Rose  McCauley, 
whose  death  occurred  in  1897.  They 
were  the  parents  of  the  following  chil- 
dren: 1.  Rose,  who  became  the  wife  of 
Michael  Walsh,  of  Hazleton.  2.  Frank 
P.,  who  received  his  education  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  and  gradu- 
ated from  the  law  department  there ;  he 
is  now  successfully  practicing  as  an  at- 
torney at  Hazleton.  3.  James  A.,  who  is 
now  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  the  con- 
tracting business  as  his  father  at  Hazle- 
ton.   4.  Hugh  J.,  who  received  his  educa- 


tion at  the  Pennsylvania  State  College, 
from  which  he  graduated ;  he  is  a  chemist 
by  profession,  and  at  the  present  time  re- 
sides at  Hazleton.  5.  Mary  D.,  who  be- 
came the  wife  of  William  K.  Byrnes,  of 
Philadelphia,  where  they  now  reside.  6. 
Genevieve,  who  became  the  wife  of  Dr. 
S.  A.  Quinn,  of  Allentown.  7.  Alice  N., 
who  became  the  wife  of  Herbert  Kud- 
lich,  of  Palmerton,  Pennsylvania.  Mr. 
Boyle  married  (second)  in  1901,  Rose 
McCauley,  a  cousin  of  his  first  wife,  and 
one  child  has  been  born  to  them,  a  daugh- 
ter, Anita  Dorothy  Boyle. 


BROWN,  Wilson  H., 

Manufacturer,    Leader    in    Civic    Progress. 

A  leader  among  the  manufacturers 
whose  united  efforts  have  won  for  Phila- 
delphia her  proud  title  of  "The  Workshop 
of  the  World"  was  the  late  Wilson  H. 
Brown,  president  of  the  Continental 
Eiderdown  Company,  and  Wilson  H. 
Brown,  Incorporated,  officially  connected 
with  other  business  organizations,  and 
widely  known  as  a  manufacturer  of 
woolen  yarns.  Mr.  Brown  at  one  time 
held  the  office  of  sheriff  and  was  a  leader 
in  the  cause  of  civic  progress  and  munic- 
ipal reform. 

Wilson  Hare  Brown  was  born  January 
27,  1862,  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  a  son  of 
John  Wilson  and  Susanna  C.  (Hare) 
Brown.  John  Wilson  Brown  was  born 
November  23,  1832,  and  died  April  16, 
1 891.  He  was  a  son  of  John  and  Hannah 
(Wilson)  Brown.  John  Wilson,  the 
father  of  Mrs.  Brown,  was  of  Leeds, 
England,  and  in  1803  came  to  the  United 
States,  settling  at  New  Leeds,  Cecil 
county,  Maryland,  where  he  became  the 
first  manufacturer  of  broadcloths  in 
America. 

The  education  of  Wilson  Hare  Brown 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BKXiRAPHY 


was  received  in  public  schools  of  his  na- 
tive city,  and  from  early  youth  he  dis- 
played the  aggressiveness  which  was 
always  so  marked  a  feature  of  his  char- 
acter, making  the  narrative  of  his  busi- 
ness career  one  of  steady  progress  from 
the  humble  post  of  office  boy  to  the  com- 
manding position  of  one  of  Philadelphia's 
leading  manufacturers.  In  1876  he  entered 
the  service  of  J.  Dalton  &  Brother,  manu- 
facturers of  woolen  yarns,  and  in  1884 
formed  a  partnership  with  Joseph  W. 
Hilton  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  in  the 
same  line  of  business.  The  venture  was 
started  in  a  little  mill  at  46th  street  and 
Girard  avenue,  and  in  1886  Mr.  Brown 
withdrew  from  the  connection,  establish- 
ing himself  under  the  name  of  Wilson  H. 
Brown,  woolen  yarn  manufacturer.  From 
a  small  beginning  was  developed,  through 
his  energy  and  enterprise,  a  business 
which  grew,  as  the  years  went  on,  to  pro- 
portions unforeseen  even  by  its  founder. 
It  was  not  long  before  Mr.  Brown  was  in 
circumstances  to  establish  a  mill  in  Ger- 
mantown,  where  he  employed  thirty 
hands.  After  this  the  development  was 
still  more  rapid,  and  during  the  last  years 
of  the  life  of  this  man  with  whom  success 
was  a  "foregone  conclusion,"  he  found 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  force  of  several 
thousand  men.  In  1891  the  firm  name 
was  changed  to  Wilson  H.  Brown  & 
Brother,  and  in  1898  the  business  was  in- 
corporated as  the  Leicester  and  Con- 
tinental Mills  Company,  Mr.  Brown  being 
vice-president,  treasurer  and  general- 
manager. 

In  1907  he  withdrew  from  this  concern 
and  in  1910  became  president  of  Jonathan 
Ring  &  Son.  In  191 1  Mr.  Brown  founded 
the  Continental  Eiderdown  Company,  be- 
coming its  first  president,  and  in  1913, 
withdrawing  from  Jonathan  Ring  &  Son, 
he  founded  the  concern  known  as  Wilson 


H.  Brown,  Incorporated,  manufacturers 
of  woolen  yarns.  At  the  time  of  his 
death  he  was  president  of  this  organiza- 
tion, and  also  of  the  Continental  Eider- 
down Company.  He  was  likewise  a  di- 
rector of  the  Kent  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, the  Royal  Ascot  Knitting  Mills, 
and  the  Arizona  United  Mining  Com- 
pany. All  these  concerns  received  safe 
guidance  from  his  wise  counsel  and  addi- 
tional impetus  from  his  vitalizing  energy. 

Always  an  ardent  advocate  of  political 
betterment,  Mr.  Brown,  in  1905,  having 
been  a  member  of  the  Common  Council 
since  1895,  was  among  the  first  of  its  inde- 
pendent members  to  oppose  the  lease  of 
the  city's  gas  works  to  the  United  Gas 
Improvement  Company,  a  measure  which 
he  had  previously  fought  in  1897.  The 
boldness  of  his  initiative  on  this  impor- 
tant question  stimulated  public  interest  to 
a  high  degree  and  resulted  in  the  defeat 
of  the  proposition.  It  was  largely  through 
Mr.  Brown's  opposition  that  the  Schuyl- 
kill Valley  water  lease  was  defeated  in 
the  Common  Council,  as  was  also  the 
ordinance  leasing  the  Dock  street  wharf 
to  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company. 
He  opposed  the  electric  light  franchise 
without  concessions  to  the  city,  and 
throughout  the  ten  years  of  his  member- 
ship in  the  Common  Council  he  was  the 
strenuous  and  uncompromising  opponent 
of  everything  detrimental  to  good  govern- 
ment and  the  best  interests  of  the  munici- 
pality. 

As  a  result  of  the  issue  raised  against 
the  gas  lease  fight  in  1905,  Mr.  Brown  was 
chosen  as  the  City  party's  standard- 
bearer,  being  nominated  for  sheriff  and 
elected  by  a  large  majority  on  the  Re- 
form ticket.  The  reform  of  the  sheriff's 
office  received  his  first  attention,  the 
office,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
Philadelphia,  being  placed    on  a  sound 


205 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


business  basis.  Mr.  Brown  was  sheriff 
from  1905  to  1908. 

So  busy  a  man  as  we  have  endeavored 
to  describe  could  hardly  be  expected  to 
have  much  time  for  social  intercourse  or 
any  other  form  of  recreation,  but  Mr. 
Brown  was  too  wise  a  man  to  disregard 
this  essential  side  of  life,  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  numerous  organizations,  including 
the  Manufacturers'  Club,  in  which  he  was 
chairman  of  the  house  committee.  His 
other  clubs  were  the  Union  League, 
White  Marsh  Valley  Country,  Seaview 
Golf,  Philadelphia  Cricket  and  Lincoln. 
He  affiliated  with  Oriental  Lodge,  No. 
385,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  in  which 
he  was  master  in  1886-87,  and  be  was  also 
a  Knight  Templar.  He  occupied  a  seat 
in  the  Philadelphia  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, was  president  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Museums,  and  belonged  to  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Manufacturers'  Association  and  the 
State  Old  Age  Pension  Commission  of 
Pennsylvania. 

Never  was  there  a  man  of  whom  it 
could  be  more  truly  said  that  his  face 
was  an  index  to  his  character,  than  of 
Wilson  Hare  Brown.  The  strongly  ex- 
pressive and  finely  moulded  features  bore 
the  stamp  of  an  aggressive  disposition, 
quick  to  take  the  initiative,  but  also 
tenacious  of  purpose  to  a  degree  which 
never  relaxed  until  the  goal  was  reached. 
The  kindliness  and  geniality  which  radi- 
ated from  his  whole  aspect  explained  the 
fact  that  at  every  step  of  his  progress 
through  life  this  man  made  friends. 
Quiet  and  unassuming  but  forceful  and 
fearless,  his  many  unobtrusive  charities 
were  seldom  known  to  any  save  the  re- 
cipients and  himself. 

Mr.  Brown  married  (first)  June  13, 
1 881,  Haidee,  daughter  of  James  and 
Sarah  Jane  (Jonson)  Dalton,  of  Philadel- 


phia, the  former  a  manufacturer  of  woolen 
yarns.  By  this  marriage  Mr.  Brown  be- 
came the  father  of  one  son :  Millard  Dal- 
ton Brown,  whose  biography  follows. 
Mr.  Brown  married  (second)  May  25, 
1886,  Bessie  K.,  daughter  of  Elias  B.  and 
Alice  K.  (King)  Crane,  of  Newark,  New 
Jersey,  of  the  old  New  Jersey  family  of 
that  name.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  were 
the  parents  of  three  daughters :  Haidee ; 
Beatrice;  and  Bessie,  wife  of  William 
Whitney  Ball  (son  of  William  H.  Ball, 
secretary  to  ex-Governor  Brumbaugh) 
and  mother  of  a  son,  William  H.  Ball,  2nd. 

While  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  Mr. 
Brown  was  summoned  to  relinquish  his 
many  activities,  and  on  October  16,  1918, 
he  passed  away,  sincerely  mourned  by  the 
large  body  of  his  fellow-citizens,  to  whose 
best  interests  he  had  ever  been  so  true 
and  leaving  a  void  not  to  be  filled  in  the 
hearts  of  those  nearest  and  dearest  to 
him. 

As  a  manufacturer  of  prominence,  who, 
while  most  effectively  serving  the  busi- 
ness interests  of  his  city,  responded  to 
the  call  of  his  friends  and  neighbors  to 
stand  for  the  cause  of  good  government, 
but  who  ever  kept  steadfastly  before  him 
the  preeminence  of  his  life-work  as  a 
captain  of  industry,  the  name  and  mem- 
ory of  Wilson  H.  Brown  will  be  held 
in  lasting  respect  and  gratitude  by  all 
true  Philadelphians. 


BROWN,  Millard  D., 

Manufacturer,  Soldier  4n  the  World  War. 

Among  Philadelphia's  typical  twenti- 
eth century  business  men  must  be  num- 
bered Millard  Dalton  Brown,  president 
of  the  Continental  Eiderdown  Company 
and  the  Wilson  H.  Brown  Company,  In- 
corporated. That  Mr.  Brown  is  coming 
to  the  front  as  an  executant  is  a  self- 


206 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


evident  fact,  but  a  most  honorable  record 
of  service  in  France  testifies  that,  as  a 
soldier,  he  has  already  arrived. 

Millard  Dalton  Brown  was  born  Au- 
gust 8,  1882,  in  Philadelphia,  and  is  a 
son  of  Wilson  Hare  and  Haidee  (Dalton) 
Brown,  both  of  whom  are  deceased.  Mr. 
Brown,  who  was  one  of  Philadelphia's 
most  aggressive  manufacturers  and  pub- 
lic-spirited citizens,  is  represented  by  a 
biography  and  portrait  which  appear  on 
preceding  pages  in  this  work.  The  pre- 
paratory education  of  Millard  Dalton 
Brown  was  received  at  the  Germantown 
Grammar  School,  after  which  he  attended 
successively  the  North  East  Manual 
Training  School  and  the  Philadelphia 
Textile  School,  eventually  completing 
his  studies  at  the  Wharton  School  of  Fi- 
nance, University  of  Pennsylvania.  At 
the  end  of  this  thorough  course  of  prepa- 
ration for  business,  Mr.  Brown  associated 
himself  with  the  widely  known  concern 
of  which  his  father  had  been  the  founder 
and  was  then  the  head.  Acquiring  the 
most  comprehensive  and  detailed  knowl- 
edge of  the  industry,  he  developed  at  the 
same  time  an  aptitude  for  administration 
and  a  skill  in  management  which  prom- 
ised to  make  him  in  the  course  of  time 
one  of  the  leading  manufacturers  of  his 
native  city,  a  promise  which  appears  now 
to  be  in  process  of  fulfillment. 

From  a  very  early  age  Mr.  Brown  man- 
ifested a  deep  interest  in  military  mat- 
ters, enlisting  in  the  National  Guard  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  in  1916  serving  on  the 
Mexican  border  with  the  rank  of  captain 
and  then  major  of  the  First  Pennsylvania 
Infantry.  Later  Major  Brown  saw  much 
active  service  in  France,  first  as  lieuten- 
ant-colonel and  afterward  as  colonel, 
holding  the  former  rank  in  the  First 
Pennsylvania  Infantry  and  the  latter  in 
the   109th  Infantry.     He  participated  in 


the  Second  Battle  of  the  Mame  near 
Chateau-Thierry  and  in  the  battles  of  the 
Ourqa  river  and  the  Aisne,  and  served 
as  adjutant  to  General  Harres,  acting 
chief  of  staff,  Base  Section  No.  5,  Ameri- 
can Expeditionary  Forces,  with  head- 
quarters at  Brest. 

But  this  career  of  brilliant  service  and 
rapid  promotion  was  cut  short  by  the  death, 
on  October  16,  1918,  of  Colonel  Brown's 
father.  Resigning  his  commission  on 
November  16,  1918,  Colonel  Brown  re- 
turned home  to  take  charge  of  the  great 
business  which  his  father  had  left  and 
which  then  became  the  trust  of  the  son. 
Mr.  Brown  is  now  a  partner  in  the  firm 
of  Brown  &  Bowers,  yarn  manufacturers, 
and  president  of  the  Continental  Eider- 
down Company  and  the  Wilson  H.  Brown 
Company,  Incorporated.  These  concerns 
employ  several  thousand  men  and  are 
among  the  most  widely  known  textile  or- 
ganizations in  Philadelphia. 

In  politics  Mr.  Brown  is  a  Republican, 
but  has  never  mingled  actively  in  the 
affairs  of  the  organization  though  ever 
ready  to  do  his  part  as  a  good  citizen  in 
working  for  betterment  of  conditions. 
His  clubs  are  the  Union  League,  Manu- 
facturers', Lincoln  and  Pelham.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 


HIRES,  Charles  Elmer, 


Among  Philadelphia's  best  known  busi- 
ness men  is  Charles  E.  Hires,  head  of  the 
Charles  E.  Hires  Company,  and  officially 
connected  with  various  other  business 
and  financial  institutions.  The  Hire's 
family  originally  was  of  Wales,  where 
the  name  was  spelled  Hyer.  Their  arms 
are  as  follows : 


Arms— Gules,  a  porcupine  argent  collared  or. 


207 


^ 4c%£u 


5£*A£/ 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


The  progenitor  of  the  family  in  Amer- 
ica was  John  Hires,  who  came  to  New 
Jersey  in  the  ship  "Shibe."  He  purchased 
a  large  tract  of  land  in  New  Jersey  and 
there  passed  his  life. 

John  D.  Hires,  father  of  Charles  E. 
Hires,  and  a  descendant  of  John  Hires, 
was  born  in  Hopewell,  Cumberland  coun- 
ty, New  Jersey,  February  17,  1817.  He 
received  his  education  in  the  schools  of 
his  section,  and  for  a  time  lived  in  Salem 
county,  but  later  returned  to  Cumberland 
county.  He  pursued  farming  and  the 
buying  and  selling  of  cattle  and  other 
stock  in  a  large  way.  For  eleven  years 
he  was  a  prominent  resident  of  Salem 
county,  but  in  1862  settled  in  Roadstown. 
In  politics  he  was  a  Democrat  and  held 
various  local  offices.  He  married  Mary 
Williams,  of  Port  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey, 
and  they  were  the  parents  of  ten  children. 
Both  he  and  his  wife  were  members  of 
the  Cohansey  Baptist  Church,  and  for 
many  years  Mr.  Hires  served  as  a  deacon. 
His  death  occurred  in  January,  1878,  and 
his  wife  passed  away  January  8,  1880. 

Charles  Elmer  Hires,  son  of  the  late 
John  D.  and  Mary  (Williams)  Hires,  was 
born  near  Salem,  Salem  county,  New  Jer- 
sey, August  19,  1851,  and  his  early  edu- 
cation was  acquired  in  the  schools  of  New 
Jersey.  He  then  served  a  four-year  ap- 
prenticeship in  a  drug  establishment  in 
Cumberland  county,  New  Jersey,  after 
which  he  came  to  Philadelphia,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  established  a  retail  drug  busi- 
ness, which  he  conducted  for  seven  years. 
He  then  founded  a  wholesale  botanic 
drug  house  on  Market  street,  Philadel- 
phia, where  in  1877  he  commenced  the 
manufacture  of  root  beer  of  a  superior 
quality,  which  has  since  become  famous 
all  over  the  world.  In  addition  to  this 
business,  in  1899,  Mr.  Hires  became  inter- 
ested in  the  manufacture  of  condensed 


milk.  In  1900  he  erected  in  Chester  coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania,  a  quarter-of-a-million- 
dollar  plant,  which  has  since  been  greatly 
added  to.  His  novel  methods  of  advertis- 
ing his  products  has  made  the  name 
"Hires"  known  internationally.  The  head- 
quarters of  his  enterprises  are  in  Philadel- 
phia. 

The  thorough  business  qualifications  of 
Mr.  Hires  have  always  been  in  good  de- 
mand on  boards  of  directors  of  various 
institutions,  and  his  public  spirit  has  led 
him  to  accept  many  such  trusts.  In  addi- 
tion to  being  president  of  the  Charles  E. 
Hires  Company  and  of  the  Hires  Con- 
densed Milk  Company,  he  is  president 
and  director  of  the  Ithaca  Condensed  Milk 
Company;  president  and  director  of  the 
Maple  Leaf  Condensed  Milk  Company  of 
Canada;  president  and  director  of  Lake 
Odessa  Milk  Company  Michigan ;  presi- 
dent and  director  of  the  Hudson  Con- 
densed Milk  Company;  president  and  di- 
rector of  the  Federal  Packing  Company 
of  Vermont ;  president  and  director  of  the 
Page  Milk  Company  of  Michigan ;  direc- 
tor of  the  Drug  Exchange,  of  which  he 
was  president  for  a  time  ;  and  a  director  of 
the  Merchants'  Bank  of  Philadelphia.  Mr. 
Hires  is  a  Republican  in  politics,  but  has 
never  accepted  office.  He  belongs  to  the 
Society  of  Friends.  Among  his  clubs  are 
the  Manufacturers'  and  Merion  Cricket. 

On  January  5,  1875,  Mr.  Hires  married 
(first)  Clara  Smith,  daughter  of  Charles 
Sheppard  and  Rebecca  J.  (Keyser)  Smith, 
of  Philadelphia,  and  they  were  the  par- 
ents of  the  following  children:  1.  Linda 
Smith,  born  September  24,  1878.  2.  John 
Edgar,  born  February  8,  1885;  married 
Thura  Truax,  and  has  children:  Charles 
Edgar,  born  August  3,  191 1 ;  Emma 
Jacquelin,  born  January  21,  1913;  and 
Thura  Truax,  born  April  15,  1916.  3. 
Harrison   Streeter,  born   May  31,   1887; 


208 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


married,  October  25,  191 1,  Christine  Le- 
land,  and  has  children :  Claramary,  born 
June  3,  1915,  and  William  Leland,  born 
July  5,  1918.  4.  Charles  Elmer,  Jr.,  born 
April  27,  1891 ;  married,  June  12,  1918, 
Use  Keppelmann.  5.  Clara  Sheppard, 
born  April  8,  1897.  Mrs.  Hires'  birth 
occurred  September  3,  1852;  her  death 
October  6,  1910.  Mr.  Hires  married  (sec- 
ond) December  28,  191 1,  Emma  Wain, 
daughter  of  Nicholas  and  Mary  (Kirby) 
Wain,  of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania.  The 
Hires  family  is  socially  popular,  and 
their  home  at  Haverford  is  one  of  the 
attractive  residences  of  suburban  Phila- 
delphia. 


WORDEN,  Thomas  Davis,  M.  D., 
Physician. 

The  professional  life  of  Dr.  Thomas 
D.  Worden  centered  in  Albany  and  Sara- 
toga, New  York  State,  although  he  spent 
a  few  years  of  his  life  in  Wilkes-Barre. 
He  was  a  physician  of  learning  and  skill, 
but  his  own  health  was  very  poor,  and  he 
was  constantly  thwarted  in  his  profes- 
sional career  by  spells  of  sickness.  He 
was  highly-esteemed  by  his  brethren  of 
the  profession,  and  by  all  who  came  with- 
in the  influence  of  his  cheerful,  optimistic 
nature.  Dr.  Worden  was  the  only  son  of 
Darwin  B.  and  Matilda  (Davis)  Worden, 
of  Trenton,  Oneida  county,  New  York. 

Thomas  Davis  Worden  was  born  in 
Trenton,  Oneida  county,  New  York,  Jan- 
uary 18,  1853,  and  died  in  Fort  Plain,  New 
York,  April  19,  1888.  In  1866  the  family 
moved  to  Fort  Plain,  New  York,  where 
the  parents  resided  until  death.  After 
completing  public  school  study  in  Fort 
Plain,  he  entered  Cazenovia  Seminary, 
passing  thence  to  Syracuse  University, 
whence  he  was  graduated  Ph.  B.,  class  of 
'yy.    The  same  year  he  began  the  study 


of  medicine  with  Dr.  Albert  Vander  Veer, 
of  Albany,  then  entered  Albany  Medical 
College,  whence  he  was  graduated  M.  D. 
and  was  valedictorian  of  the  class  of  1880. 
He  at  once  began  to  practice  in  Albany, 
but  was  stricken  with  a  severe  illness  the 
following  year,  and  in  November,  1881, 
he  sailed  for  Europe  as  special  physician 
to  ex-Attorney-General  Martindale,  be- 
lieving that  the  ocean  voyage  and  travel 
abroad  would  build  up  his  own  health. 
Dr.  Worden  returned  to  Albany  in  March, 
1S82,  after  General  Martindale's  death, 
his  health  greatly  improved.  He  resumed 
practice  in  Albany,  but  shortly  afterward 
he  became  associated  with  Dr.  Strong  in 
his  Remedial  Institute  at  Saratoga 
Springs,  New  York,  continuing  with  him 
until  1885,  when  ill  health  again  com- 
pelled him  to  change  his  plans.  In  that 
year  he  withdrew  from  the  institute  and 
removed  to  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  entered  business  life  with  his 
father-in-law,  Lewis  C.  Paine.  Two  years 
later  his  health  again  broke  and  he  gave 
up  business  and  sought  the  healthful 
climate  of  Colorado,  but  his  health  grad- 
ually failed  and  he  was  removed  East  and 
passed  away  at  the  home  of  his  father  in 
Fort  Plain,  New  York,  April  19,  1888. 
During  the  last  two  years  that  Dr.  Wor- 
den was  in  Saratoga  he  completed  for 
publication  a  translation  of  the  medical 
work  of  Beni  Borde,  an  eniment  French 
physician.  He  was  a  member  of  St. 
Stephen's  Episcopal  Church,  Wilkes- 
Barre,  Luzerne  County  Medical  Society, 
and  Albany  County  Medical  Society,  and 
was  a  musician  of  some  note. 

This  is  the  brief  life  story  of  a  Chris- 
tian gentleman  of  many  rare  mental  and 
social  qualities.  He  was  self-possessed 
and  at  ease  under  every  condition  or  posi- 
tion in  which  placed,  was  naturally  buoy- 
ant in  disposition,  with  an  infectious  qual- 


209 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


ity  of  humor  that  made  him  a  charming 
companion.  He  was  a  thorough  student 
and  had  the  faculty  of  making  most  prac- 
tical applications  of  his  knowledge.  He 
has  long  since  passed  to  his  reward,  but 
he  has  left  behind  him  the  memory  of 
work  well  done.  He  was  truly  mourned 
by  his  many  friends,  and  when  the  news 
of  his  death  went  abroad  the  Medical  So- 
ciety of  Albany  County,  New  York,  met 
in  special  session  and  passed  the  follow- 
ing resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  Medical  Society  of  the 
County  of  Albany,  having  learned  of  the  death  of 
our  esteemed  member,  Doctor  Thomas  D.  Wor- 
den,  would  express  our  regret  for  his  untimely 
death,  and  also  our  appreciation  of  the  many  ex- 
cellent qualities  which  endeared  him  to  us  and 
gave  promise  of  so  useful  and  successful  a 
career. 

Resolved,  That  the  sketch  of  his  life  and  char- 
acter together  with  these  resolutions  be  entered 
on  our  minutes. 

Resolved,  That  we  tender  our  sincere  sym- 
pathy to  the  afflicted  family,  and  direct  our  sec- 
retary to  send  copies  of  our  action  to  them. 

Dr.  Worden  married,  in  the  autumn  of 
1883,  Anne  Scott  Paine,  eldest  daughter 
of  Lewis  C.  and  Anne  E.  (Lee)  Paine,  of 
Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania.  Lewis  C. 
Paine  was  a  son  of  Captain  Jedediah 
Paine,  and  a  descendant  of  Thomas  Paine, 
an  Englishman,  who  arrived  in  Plymouth, 
Massachusetts,  at  an  early  date,  eventu- 
ally settling  in  Yarmouth,  where  he  was 
made  a  freeman  in  1639,  and  was  still  re- 
siding there  in  1650.  Mrs.  Worden  was  a 
life  member  of  St.  Stephen's  Episcopal 
Church,  member  of  the  Society  of  Colon- 
ial Dames,  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution,  Society  of  Mayflower  De- 
scendants, and  was  noted  for  her  philan- 
thropy and  her  charity,  also  highly  es- 
teemed. She  died  February  18,  1914.  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Worden  were  the  parents  of  a 


daughter,  Anne  Lee  Worden,  who  mar- 
ried Harry  L.  French,  of  Wilkes-Barre, 
and  has  a  son,  Livingston  Paine  French. 
They  reside   in   Wilkes-Barre,   Pennsyl- 


GRIFFITH,  Jacob  K., 

Metallurgist,    Inventor    and    Steel    Expert. 

The  Griffith  family  first  settled  in 
America  when  two  brothers  and  three 
sisters  came  to  Philadelphia,  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  broth- 
ers Robert  and  William  were  the  sons  of 
William  and  Grace  Griffith,  who  settled 
at  Nurey,  Ireland,  having  removed  from 
Belfast,  Ireland,  to  which  city,  tradition 
says,  their  ancestors  fled  from  France  to 
escape  the  Huguenot  persecutions.  The 
two  brothers  were  by  occupation  house 
carpenters. 

William  Griffith,  the  founder  of  the 
branch  of  the  family  in  which  this  narra- 
tive deals,  married  for  his  second  wife, 
Mary  Chapman,  of  New  Egypt,  New  Jer- 
sey, November  20,  1805.  Soon  after  his 
marriage  he  purchased  a  house  in  Phila- 
delphia county,  at  the  falls  of  the  Schuyl- 
kill, where  he  made  his  residence  until 
1828,  when  he  removed  to  Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania.  He  and  his  family  were 
members  of  the  Baptist  Society,  and  he 
was  the  principal  organizer  and  builder 
of  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Harris- 
burg. 

William  and  Mary  (Chapman)  Griffith 
had  a  family  of  twelve  children.  Their 
fifth  child,  William  Robert  Griffith,  was 
born  April  2,  1815,  and  died  in  New  York 
City,  June  14,  1876.  He  was  one  of  the 
foremost  pioneers  of  the  anthracite  coal 
industry.  He  organized  and  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Pennsylvania  Coal  Company, 
and  came  to  the  Wyoming  Valley  in  1848, 
where   he   made   extensive    purchases   of 


J^^JLff<j& 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


valuable  coal  lands  about  Pittston  and 
vicinity.  This  company  constructed  a 
gravity  railroad  from  Pittston  to  Hawley, 
and  became  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
successful  companies  in  the  coal  region. 

The  youngest  child  of  William  and 
Mary  (Chapman)  Griffith,  Andrew  Jack- 
son Griffith,  was  born  in  Philadelphia 
county,  Pennsylvania,  October  25,  1828. 
His  education  was  limited  to  a  school  at 
Lititz,  Pennsylvania,  and  on  his  becoming 
of  age  he  came  to  the  Wyoming  Valley 

1  as  an  assistant  to  his  brother  in  the  dev- 
elopment of  his  extensive  mining  enter- 
prises and  in  the  construction  of  the  grav- 
ity road  to  Hawley.  After  the  completion 
of  the  railroad,  he  purchased  a  farm  on 
Scovel's  Island,  in  the  Susquehanna  river, 
above  Pittston,  Pennsylvania.  This  farm 
he  afterward  sold  and  invested  the  pro- 
ceeds in  real  estate  in  West  Pittston, 
where  he  had  built  himself  a  residence  in 
1854.  After  the  sale  of  his  farming  lands, 
he  retired  from  active  business.  Mr.  Grif- 
fith was  an  ardent  Republican,  and  was 
one  of  the  incorporators  of  West  Pittston 
borough,  and  held  the  office  of  burgess, 
councilman  and  other  offices  at  various 
times.  An  enthusiastic  sportsman,  he 
took  great  delight  in  hunting,  fishing  and 
trapping.  Another  of  his  enjoyments  was 
the  collection  of  coins  and  Indian  relics, 
which  after  his  death  was  presented  to 
the  Wyoming  Historical  and   Geological 

I  Society.  He  married  Jemima  Ellen  Sax, 
daughter  of  John  and  Rebecca  (Parrish) 
Sax.  The  Saxs  were  of  German  ancestry, 
and  Jacob  Sax  with  his  brothers  George 
and  William  founded  the  family  at  Phil- 
lipsburg,  New  Jersey,  and  Conrad  Sax, 
the  grandfather  of  Mr.  Griffith,  was  born 
at  Phillipsburg,  New  Jersey,  and  married 
Mary  Beers.  He  kept  a  tavern  on  the 
Wilkes-Barre  and  Eastern  turnpike,  near 
Sax  pond,  several  miles  eastward  of  the 
former  place.     On  her  maternal  side  she 


was  descended  from  Sergeant  John  Par- 
rish, of  Groton,  Massachusetts,  whose  son 
John  removed  to  Preston,  Connecticut. 
The  third  generation  was  represented  by 
Lieutenant  Isaac  Parrish,  of  Windham, 
Connecticut,  whose  son,  Archippus  Par- 
rish, settled  in  North  Mansfield,  Connec- 
ticut. Their  son  Abraham  had  a  daugh- 
ter, Rebecca  Wright  Parrish,  who  mar- 
ried John  Sax.  The  children  of  Andrew 
Jackson  and  Jemima  (Sax)  Griffith  were: 
William ;  Jacob  K.,  mentioned  below ; 
Gertrude  N.,  married  Charles  D.  Sander- 
son, and  two  children  who  died  in  infancy. 
Mr.  Griffith  died  at  West  Pittston,  June 
18,  1889. 

Jacob  K.  Griffith,  the  second  son  of 
Andrew  Jackson  and  Jemima  (Sax)  Grif- 
fith, was  born  in  West  Pittston,  Pennsyl- 
vania, August  9,  1857.  His  boyhood  days 
were  spent  in  his  native  town  where  he 
received  his  early  education  in  the  public 
and  private  schools.  He  then  became  a 
student  at  Lafayette  College  of  Easton, 
Pennsylvania,  pursuing  a  course  of  stud- 
ies as  an  analytical  chemist.  He  gradu- 
ated in  June,  1878,  and  in  the  spring  of 
the  following  year  he  entered  the  employ 
of  the  Midvale  Steel  Company  of  Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania.  He  was  connected 
with  this  company  over  ten  years,  and 
young  as  he  was  his  advancement  was 
rapid  and  while  only  a  short  time  in  their 
employ  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
melting  and  molding  department.  At 
this  time  there  was  only  three  open 
hearth  steel  furnaces  in  the  country  and 
Mr.  Griffith  had  charge  of  two  of  them. 
This  was  the  day  of  active  pioneering  in 
the  development  of  the  steel  industry  of 
the  country. 

On  the  organization,  in  1888,  of  the 
Latrobe  Steel  Company  by  parties  for- 
merly interested  in  the  Midvale  Company, 
Mr.  Griffith  refused  offers  of  all  kinds 
to  remain  with  his  former  employers.    He 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


had  given  his  promise  to  the  competitive 
company  and  could  not  be  influenced  to 
break  it.  The  value  of  his  services  can 
be  estimated  by  the  fact  that  for  three 
months  he  was  an  employee  of  both  com- 
panies, though  they  were  competitive,  so 
loath  was  the  Midvale  Company  to  let 
him  go.  Mr.  Griffith  went  to  Latrobe, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1889,  as  superintendent 
of  the  Latrobe  Steel  Company.  The  cor- 
poration was  taken  over  in  1905  by  the 
Railway  Steel-Spring  Company,  in  whose 
employ  he  remained  until  1910,  when  he 
removed  to  West  Pittston,  Pennsylvania. 
At  the  time  when  Mr.  Griffith  took  charge 
of  an  infant  company  in  the  industrial 
world,  its  capital  was  the  determination 
and  perseverance  of  the  men  who  fathered 
the  enterprise,  and  when  he  resigned  after 
twenty-two  years  of  faithful  service,  it 
had  grown  into  a  gigantic  industry  largely 
due  to  the  time,  skill  and  devotion  of  its 
superintendent.  The  original  projectors 
of  the  Latrobe  Steel  Company  at  the  time 
of  the  disposal  of  their  interests  to  the 
Railway  Steel-Spring  Company  received 
several  millions  of  dollars. 

Mr.  Griffith's  remarkable  personality  is 
best  evidenced  by  the  close  bond  of  friend- 
ship that  existed  between  him  and  the 
employees  that  worked  under  him.  Of 
the  many  thousands  of  men  in  his  thirty- 
two  years  service,  the  love  and  respect 
that  was  held  by  them  toward  him  is  il- 
lustrated by  the  fact  that  he  never  had  a 
strike  or  labor  disagreement  of  any  kind, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  resignation  at  La- 
trobe there  was  widespread  regret  among 
the  employees  of  the  establishment. 

As  a  practical  steel  man,  Mr.  Griffith 
was  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  best  ex- 
perts on  high  carbon  steel  in  the  country. 
He  was  not  only  a  metallurgist,  but  an  in- 
ventor. While  connected  with  the  Mid- 
vale  Steel   Company,   before  the   Bethle- 


hem Steel  Company  was  organized,  there 
came  under  his  supervision  the  making  of 
the  steel  for  practically  all  the  ordnance 
for  the  United  States  Army  and  Navy. 
He  directed  the  making  of  the  steel  for 
the  first  all  steel  ship  and  for  the  first  pro- 
jectiles made  by  the  United  States  Navy. 
He  also  made  certain  parts  of  the  machin- 
ery that  installed  the  first  electric  power 
plant  at  Niagara  Falls,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  steel  work  in  the  construction 
of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  was  manufactured 
under  his  direction.  His  records  show 
that  he  invented  and  was  using  Mangan- 
ese Steel  at  Midvale,  three  years  before 
Haddfield,  the  English  inventor,  claimed 
credit  for  it.  Mr.  Griffith  was  sent  for  by 
the  Department  of  Ordnance  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  in  April,  1918,  to 
come  to  Washington  to  supervise  prac- 
tical experiments  being  made  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, in  connection  with  recent  pat- 
ents he  had  obtained  in  the  manufacture 
of  armor  plate. 

Mr.  Griffith  married,  October  9,  18S3, 
Winifred,  daughter  of  William  J.  and 
Mary  Frances  (Brown)  Kerr,  of  Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania.  Her  parents  were 
descended  from  old  Revolutionary  stock 
and  connected  with  many  of  the  old  Phil- 
adelphia families.  By  this  marriage  there 
were  three  children :  1.  Mary  Frances, 
who  married  Early  Mcllhenny  Johnson, 
of  Steelton,  Pennsylvania ;  they  have  two 
children,  Charles  Griffith  and  Robert 
Early  Johnson.  2.  Andrew  Jackson.  3. 
Winifred  von  Ronckendorff. 

Mr.  Griffith  was  a  member  of  Trinity 
Episcopal  Church  of  West  Pittston,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  a  former  vestryman.  He 
was  a  man  of  liberal  ideas,  unostentatious 
in  his  manners,  and  both  in  his  business 
and  home  circles  was  noted  for  his  hos- 
pitality. He  passed  away  July  28,  1918, 
in  the  home  in  which  he  was  born. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


STEWART,  Robert  Ekin, 

Lawyer,  Civil  'War  Veteran. 

Robert  Ekin  Stewart,  late  of  North 
Braddock,  was  born  April  2,  1841,  at 
Stewart  Station,  North  Huntingdon  town- 
ship, Westmoreland  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  traced  his  ancestry  to  a  Scotch 
lineage. 

(I)  John  Stewart,  great-grandfather  of 
Robert  E.  Stewart,  was  a  native  of  Scot- 
land, and  the  old  family  register  shows 
that  he  was  born  on  the  27th  day  of  April, 
but  the  figures  for  the  year  have  been 
obliterated.  It  is  believed,  however,  to 
have  been  in  the  third  decade  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  and  about  the  middle  of 
that  century  the  family  crossed  to  the 
north  of  Ireland.  A  few  years  later  the 
younger  branch  of  the  family,  of  which 
this  John  Stewart  and  his  wife  Elinor 
were  the  united  head,  emigrated  from 
Londonderry  to  the  province  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. About  the  close  of  the  War  of  the 
Revolution  this  family  crossed  the  moun- 
tains and  settled  in  what  is  now  Elizabeth 
township,  Allegheny  county,  having  pur- 
chased there  a  large  tract  of  land  at 
Round  Hill,  on  which  he  erected  the  first 
shingle-roofed  house  in  that  township. 
He  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  of  Round  Hill,  and 
was  an  active  and  devoted  member  there- 
of. He  was  described  by  one  that  knew 
him  as  being  "a  well-to-do  farmer,  a 
square-built,  good-looking  man."  He  and 
his  wife  Elinor  were  the  parents  of  eight 
children — four  sons  and  four  daughters. 

(II)  John  (2)  Stewart,  second  son  of 
John  (1)  and  Elinor  Stewart,  and  grand- 
father of  Robert  E.  Stewart,  was  born 
December  26,  1766.  He  was  a  man  of 
good  physique,  generous-hearted,  a  cap- 
tain of  militia,  and  followed  the  occupa- 
tion of  his  father,  farming.  He  married 
Jane  Cavett,  whose  father,  John  Cavett, 

2: 


a  miller,  was  the  first  settler  at  the  place 
now  known  as  Cavettsville,  but  originally 
Cavett's  Mill,  and  was  of  the  third  gener- 
ation of  Cavetts  born  in  this  county.  John 
Cavett  removed  from  Dauphin  county  to 
Western  Pennsylvania  in  1770,  and  pur- 
chased from  Ephraim  Blaine,  in  1771,  a 
large  tract  and  the  lands  embracing  what 
was  later  known  as  the  Cavett's  Mill  tract 
and  the  Stewart  Station  property,  of 
which  John  Yearl  was  the  original  war- 
rantee. John  Cavett  divided  this  land  be- 
tween his  sons,  John  and  James,  the  latter 
taking  the  Stewart  Station  tract  which 
he  afterwards  exchanged  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  John  Stewart,  for  a  mill  site,  part 
of  the  Stewart  homestead  in  Elizabeth 
township,  Allegheny  county.  John  (2) 
Stewart  died  seized  of  this  land,  intestate, 
leaving  two  sons — John  and  Alexander — 
and  five  daughters.  John  Stewart  pur- 
chased from  his  brother  and  sisters  their 
interests  in  said  land,  and  upon  his  mar- 
riage removed  thereto  and  lived  thereon 
until  his  death. 

(Ill)  John  (3)  Stewart,  son  of  John 
(2)  and  Jane  (Cavett)  Stewart,  was  born 
September  15,  1796,  at  the  Stewart  home- 
stead, at  Round  Hill,  Elizabeth  town- 
ship, Allegheny  county,  Pennsylvania. 
He  was  a  prosperous  farmer  and  added  to 
the  tract  from  his  father's  estate,  as  above 
stated,  a  tract  adjoining,  the  same  pur- 
chased from  his  cousin,  James  Cavett,  one 
of  the  heirs  of  the  younger  John  Cavett, 
above  named,  making  the  total  area  of  his 
homestead  property  about  three  hundred 
and  seventy  acres,  a  considerable  part  of 
which  lay  in  Allegheny  county,  the  man- 
sion house,  however,  being  in  Westmore- 
land county.  He  had,  besides,  acquired 
valuable  farms  in  other  places.  He  was 
a  Whig  until  the  dissolution  of  that  party, 
when  he  became  a  Republican.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
church.    On  January  16,  1821,  Mr.  Stew- 


Ok/wA,  Vj§\jU\-cL 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


Carnegie  Steel  Company.  A  biography 
and  portrait  of  Mr.  Dinkey  appear  else- 
where in  this  work.  2.  John  McMasters, 
M.  D.,  born  June  9,  1871 ;  educated  at 
Westminster  College,  graduated  from  the 
medical  department  of  Western  Univer- 
sity, Pittsburgh;  is  now  (1918)  in  prac- 
tice at  Homestead,  Pennsylvania  ;  resides 
on  William  Pitt  Boulevard,  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania.  3.  Harry  McMasters,  born 
November  23,  1873 ;  a  graduate  of  the 
State  College,  class  of  1896 ;  is  now  super- 
intendent of  furnaces  at  the  Duquesne 
Steel  Works,  Duquesne,  Pennsylvania ; 
he  married  Camille  Hawthorne,  June  28, 
1900,  and  resides  at  Duquesne.  4.  Rob- 
ert E.,  Jr.,  born  January  23,  1876,  died 
October  23,  1890.  5.  Leonora  Markle, 
born  May  5,  1878;  educated  at  Pennsyl- 
vania College  for  Women  and  Wilson 
College ;  married,  October  5,  1905,  Ed- 
ward R.  Williams,  of  Homestead.  6. 
James  Sterrett,  born  October  13,  1880;  a 
graduate  of  North  Braddock  high  school, 
spent  one  year  at  Westminster  College, 
and  one  year  in  the  medical  department  of 
Western  University.  7.  Caroline,  born 
January  11,  1883;  a  graduate  of  North 
Braddock  High  School,  and  a  graduate  of 
Westminster  College;  married  Dr.  J.  H. 
Johnson,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  In 
1869,  the  year  following  his  marriage,  Mr. 
Stewart  removed  from  his  boyhood  home 
at  Stewart  Station  to  Turtle  Creek,  Alle- 
gheny county,  and  later  purchased  prop- 
erty in  North  Braddock,  whither  he  re- 
moved in  October,  1875.  His  law  office 
was  at  No.  424  Fifth  Avenue,  Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania.  Robert  Ekin  Stewart  died 
March  30,    1910,   at   Braddock,   Pennsyl- 


COLLORD,  James, 

Metal  Broker. 

The  typical  Pittsburgh  business  man  is 
not  always  born  within  the  limits  of  the 


Iron  City.  Not  infrequently  from  distant 
portions  of  the  Union  come  men  who  ex- 
hibit in  a  striking  manner  traits  popularly 
supposed  to  be  the  birthright  of  those 
who  first  saw  the  light  in  the  Industrial 
Capital.  Prominent  among  this  notable 
class  of  citizens  was  the  late  James  Col- 
lord,  head  of  the  well-known  metal  brok- 
erage firm  of  James  Collord  &  Company, 
and  officially  identified  with  a  number  of 
the  financial  institutions  of  the  city.  Mr. 
Collord  was  for  the  greater  portion  of  his 
life  a  resident  of  Pittsburgh  and  was  in- 
timately associated  with  her  most  essen- 
tial interests. 

James  Collord  was  born  August  22, 
1835,  in  New  York  City,  and  was  a  son  of 
the  Rev.  James  and  Mary  (Thorn)  Col- 
lord, the  former  a  Methodist  Episcopal 
minister  of  the  Metropolis.  The  boy  was 
educated  in  schools  of  his  native  city,  and 
on  completing  his  course  of  study  became 
the  assistant  of  his  father  who  then  had 
charge  of  the  Methodist  Book  Concern  of 
New  York  City.  As  a  youth  Mr.  Collord 
came  to  Pittsburgh,  first  being  employed 
as  a  clerk  by  Alexander  Bradley,  one  of 
the  pioneer  iron  manufacturers  of  the 
city.  After  filling  this  position  for  some 
years  he  entered  the  service  of  Hillerman 
&  Company,  hat  manufacturers,  eventu- 
ally, in  association  with  Robert  Loomis, 
forming  the  firm  of  Loomis  &  Collord, 
metal  brokers.  From  its  inception  the  en- 
terprise was  successful,  largely  in  conse- 
quence of  the  acute  and  sagacious  appre- 
hension and  the  clear  and  far-sighted 
judgment  of  Mr.  Collord.  After  some 
years  he  purchased  his  partner's  interest 
and  continued  the  business  alone  under 
the  name  of  James  Collord  &  Company, 
with  offices  at  the  corner  of  Market  and 
Fourth  streets.  For  many  years  he  was 
recognized  as  one  of  those  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  business  organizations 
most  essential  to  the  welfare  and  progress 
of  the  city.     By  associates  and  subordi- 


215 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


lates  he  was  regarded  with  respect  and 
affection  by  reason  of  his  loyalty  to  prin- 
ciple and  kindliness  of  disposition.  The 
business  career  of  Mr.  Collord  was  in- 
terrupted in  his  early  manhood  by  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War.  He  was 
among  those  who  responded  to  the  first 
call  for  troops,  enlisting  in  the  "Pitts- 
burgh Rifles"  and  serving  until  after  the 
battle  of  Fredericksburg.  In  that  engage- 
ment he  lost  an  eye,  and  for  gallant  and 
meritorious  conduct  was  promoted  on  the 
field  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel. 

As  a  public-spirited  citizen  Colonel  Col- 
lord stood  in  the  front  rank,  never  with- 
holding aid  and  influence  from  any  meas- 
ure which,  in  his  judgment,  tended  toward 
betterment  of  existing  conditions.  He  ad- 
hered to  the  Republican  party,  but  took 
no  active  share  in  politics  and  steadily  re- 
fused to  accept  office.  Widely  but  unos- 
tentatiously charitable,  the  full  number 
of  his  benefactions  will,  in  all  probability, 
never  be  known  to  the  world,  for  his  phil- 
anthropy was  of  the  kind  that  shuns  pub- 
licity. He  was  a  director  of  the  Bank  of 
Pittsburgh  and  the  Pittsburgh  Insurance 
Company,  and  was  interested  in  a  number 
of  other  financial  institutions  of  the  city. 
He  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
and  belonged  to  Post  No.  259,  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  the  Legion  of 
Honor  and  the  Duquesne  Club.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church. 

Of  strong  mental  endowments,  gener- 
ous impulses  and  a  chivalrous  sense  of 
honor,  Colonel  Collord  was  a  man  nobly 
planned.  He  was  of  fine  personal  appear- 
ance, his  tall,  well-formed,  slight  figure 
always  retaining  something  of  the  soldier- 
ly air  acquired  during  his  period  of  mili- 
tary service.  His  massive  head,  crowned 
with  silvery  hair,  high  forehead,  and 
strongly-marked  features,  accentuated  by 

l/hite  moustache  and  beard,  all  gave  the 


impression  of  great  energy  of  mind  and 
elevation  of  character.  Ever  dignified,' 
genial  and  courteous,  and  in  his  attach- 
ments ardent  and  loyal,  his  friendships 
were  quickly  formed  and  of  life-long  dura- 
tion. 

Colonel  Collord  married  (first),  in 
Pittsburgh,  Anna,  daughter  of  Michael 
and  Emmeline  Dravo.  He  married  (sec- 
ond), April  24,  1873,  Sarah,  daughter  of 
Dennis  and  Jane  (Martin)  Leonard,  the 
former  a  pioneer  lumber  merchant  of 
Pittsburgh,  whose  death  occurred  Decem- 
ber 8,  1872.  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Collord 
were  the  parents  of  three  children:  1. 
Grace  C,  who  became  the  wife  of  Howard 
Meredith  Hooker,  and  has  one  child,  Mer- 
edith C.  2.  Augusta  V.  3.  George  Leon- 
ard, who  is  associated  with  the  Shenango 
Furnaces,  at  Sharon,  Pennsylvania,  mar- 
ried Clarissa,  daughter  of  Simon  and 
Laura  (Norton)  Perkins,  of  that  place, 
and  they  are  the  parents  of  one  child, 
Laura  Norton.  George  L.  Collord  is  a 
prominent  business  man,  inheriting  a 
large  share  of  his  father's  ability.  Mrs. 
Hooker  and  Miss  Collord  are  extremely 
popular  in  Pittsburgh  society.  In  his 
domestic  relations  Colonel  Collord  was 
singularly  fortunate.  Mrs.  Collord,  a 
woman  of  rare  wifely  qualities,  and  ad- 
mirably fitted  by  her  excellent  practical 
mind  to  be  his  true  helpmate  in  all  his 
aspirations  and  ambitions,  caused  him 
ever  to  find  in  his  home  a  refuge  from  the 
storm  and  stress  of  the  business  arena. 
Colonel  Collord  was  devoted  to  his  fam- 
ily and  delighted  in  the  exercise  of  hos- 
pitality. Mrs.  Collord's  death  occurred 
May  29,  1913. 

The  death  of  Colonel  Collord,  which 
occurred  December  16,  1898,  removed 
from  Pittsburgh  a  man  whose  business 
capacity  was  of  a  high  order  and  who 
was  ever  true  to  the  highest  ideals  of 
honor  and  integrity.  His  was,  indeed,  a 
16 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


career  singularly  complete,  presenting  as 
it  did  to  his  community  an  example  of 
every  public  and  private  virtue.  Burd- 
ened with  the  handicap  of  partial  blind- 
ness, incurred  in  the  service  of  his  coun- 
try, this  brave  and  faithful  man  ran  the 
race  of  life,  and  left  a  record  which  is 
best  epitomized  in  the  three  words,  "Suc- 
cess with  Honor." 


BLAKELEY,  Archibald,  Colonel, 

Civil  War  Veteran,  Lawyer,  Author. 

Colonel  Archibald  Blakeley,  a  veteran 
of  the  Civil  War,  was  for  more  than  half 
a  century  a  member  of  the  Allegheny 
county  bar,  and  one  of  the  organizers  of 
the  Republican  party.  What  an  image 
will  these  simple  sentences  invoke  before 
the  mental  vision  of  three  generations! 
Notable  at  the  bar,  distinguished  on  the 
battlefield  and  eminent  in  politics.  Colonel 
Blakeley,  now  gathered  to  his  fathers, 
rendered  to  his  country  three-fold  and 
never-to-be-forgotten  service. 

(I)  Joseph  Blakeley,  grandfather  of 
Archibald  Blakeley,  was  born  about  1773, 
in  Ireland,  and  received  a  fair  English 
education.  On  reaching  manhood  he  emi- 
grated to  the  United  States,  settling  in 
Westmoreland  county,  Pennsylvania, 
whence  he  removed  to  Allegheny  county. 
In  1796  he  purchased  a  farm  of  eighty 
acres  in  what  is  now  Forward  township, 
Butler  county,  and  on  this  estate  made  his 
home  during  the  remainder  of  his  long 
life.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends.  Mr.  Blakeley  was  accompanied 
to  the  United  States  by  his  wife,  whom 
he  had  married  in  Ireland  and  whose 
maiden  name  was  Harvey.  The  following 
children  were  born  to  them:  Jane,  mar- 
ried William  Mellis;  Delilah,  married 
Alexander  Steel;  Mary,  married  Jesse 
Rolls ;  Lewis,  mentioned  below ;  Harvey, 
and  Joseph.    Joseph  Blakeley,  the  father, 


died  in  1858,  his  wife  having  passed  away 
about  1838. 

(II)   Lewis    Blakeley,    son    of    Joseph 

and (Harvey)  Blakeley,  was  born 

in  1793,  in  Allegheny  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  grew  to  manhood  in  Forward 
township,  Butler  county.  He  established 
a  distillery  on  the  farm  subsequently 
owned  by  his  son  Andrew,  and  for  many 
years  carried  on  that  business  in  con- 
nection with  agriculture.  Mr.  Blakeley 
married,  in  181 5,  Jane,  born  March  7, 
1797,  in  Washington  county,  daughter  of 
Archibald  McAllister,  a  native  of  Ire- 
land, who  settled,  in  1801,  in  Forward 
township,  Butler  county.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Blakeley  were  the  parents  of  the  follow- 
ing children :  John,  Andrew,  Jesse,  Isaac, 
Joseph,  Archibald,  mentioned  below ; 
Lewis,  Harvey,  William,  Hannah  J.,  mar- 
ried Edward  Cookson,  of  Cranberry  town- 
ship ;  Thomas  G.,  and  Mordecai  G.  The 
father  of  the  family  died  September  3, 
1845,  leaving  to  his  widow  the  care  of 
such  of  their  twelve  children  as  had  not 
yet  attained  maturity.  Mrs.  Blakeley,  who 
was  a  woman  of  remarkable  discretion, 
strong  will  power  and  great  industry, 
possessing  both  moral  and  physical  cour- 
age, performed  well  the  duties  that  fell  to 
her  lot,  giving  her  children  every  advan- 
tage which  the  times  afforded.  Inspired 
by  their  mother's  patriotic  devotion  and 
loyalty  five  of  the  sons  entered  the  Union 
army,  and  one,  William  Blakeley,  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel of  the  Fourteenth  Penn- 
sylvania Cavalry,  laid  down  his  life  in  de- 
fense of  the  flag.-  Mrs.  Blakeley  survived 
her  husband  nearly  thirty-seven  years, 
passing  away  on  June  15,  1882,  at  the 
home  of  her  daughter.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Blakeley  were  members  of  the  Union 
Church  which  was  organized  in  their 
neighborhood. 

(Ill)   Colonel  Archibald  Blakeley,  son 
of  Lewis  and  Jane  (McAllister)  Blakeley, 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


was  born  July  24,  1827,  near  the  conflu- 
ence of  Glade  Run  and  the  Conoquenes- 
sing,  in  Butler  county,  Pennsylvania,  and 
received  his  education  in  local  schools 
and  at  Marshall  Academy,  Virginia.  Af- 
ter completing  his  course  of  study  he  be- 
came an  instructor  in  the  schools  of  his 
native  county,  reading  law,  meanwhile, 
under  the  preceptorship  of  George  W. 
Smith.  On  November  10,  1852,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  Butler  county  bar.  The 
standing  which  the  young  lawyer  speed- 
ily attained  is  sufficiently  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  the  following  year  he  was 
elected  district  attorney  of  Butler  county, 
an  office  in  which  he  served  with  credit 
until  he  resigned  to  join  the  army.  He 
early  began  to  take  an  active  part  in  pol- 
itics and  was  one  of  the  men  who  met,  on 
February  22,  1856,  in  old  Lafayette  Hall, 
Pittsburgh,  and  took  steps  which  resulted 
in  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party 
in  the  United  States.  In  consequence  of 
what  was  done  at  this  meeting  a  national 
convention  met  in  Philadelphia  and  nomi- 
nated for  president,  John  C.  Fremont,  of 
California,  and  for  vice-president,  Wil- 
liam L.  Dayton,  of  New  Jersey.  At  this 
convention  Mr.  Blakeley,  then  a  brilliant 
young  lawyer,  and  already  taking  his 
place  among  political  leaders,  was  a  con- 
spicuous figure.  Sixty  years  later  he  re- 
mained the  sole  and  honored  survivor  of 
the  historic  gathering  in  Pittsburgh. 

A  few  years  later  the  guns  bombarding 
Fort  Sumter  thundered  throughout  the 
land  the  dread  announcement  of  civil 
war,  and  among  those  who  responded  to 
President  Lincoln's  first  call  for  troops 
was  Archibald  Blakeley.  Distinguished 
in  law  and  politics  by  native  ability,  he 
was  a  soldier  by  inheritance.  His  earliest 
paternal  American  ancestor,  his  great- 
grandfather, John  Blakeley,  who  came 
from  Ireland  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania, 
was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Brandywine  in 


the  Revolutionary  War ;  the  maternal 
grandfather,  Archibald  McAllister,  whose 
name  he  bore,  had  been  a  brave  soldier 
of  the  Revolution,  captain  of  Company  A 
of  the  First  Regiment  of  the  Pennsylvania 
line,  having  been  killed  in  the  battle  of 
Brandywine,  and  after  the  lapse  of  eighty 
years  the  spirit  of  '76  still  burned.  Arch- 
ibald Blakeley  entered  the  military  serv- 
ice of  his  country  as  lieutenant-colonel  of 
the  Seventy-eighth  Regiment,  Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers,  and  for  a  time  did  duty 
as  recruiting  officer  in  Butler  county.  In 
October,  1861,  Colonel  Blakeley's  regi- 
ment was  transported  by  river  from  Pitts- 
burgh to  Louisville,  and  there  united  with 
other  Union  troops  in  the  attempt  to  pre- 
vent the  Confederates  from  occupying 
that  city.  Colonel  Blakeley  fought  with 
his  regiment  throughout  the  campaign 
which  ended  the  war  in  Tennessee,  Ken- 
tucky, Alabama  and  Georgia,  participat- 
ing in  the  battles  of  Mill  Springs,  Fort 
Donaldson,  Stone  River,  Shiloh,  Lookout 
Mountain,  Missionary  Ridge,  Orchard 
Knob,  and  all  the  engagements  from  Chat- 
tanooga to  Atlanta.  In  March,  1862,  Col- 
onel Blakeley  was  detailed  by  General 
Buehl  and  made  president  of  the  general 
court-martial  and  military  commission  in 
Nashville,  and  many  men  of  national  rep- 
utation were  brought  before  him,  his  legal 
training  making  him  an  ideal  man  for  the 
position  of  president  of  the  court. 

After  the  battle  of  Stone  River  the  col- 
onel of  the  Seventy-eighth  Pennsylvania 
Regiment  was  transferred  to  another 
command,  and  Colonel  Blakeley  was  in 
charge  of  the  regiment  during  the  battles 
of  Chickamauga,  Lookout  Mountain  and 
Missionary  Ridge,  which  resulted  in  the 
defeat  of  the  Confederates  and  the  ulti- 
mate capture  of  Atlanta.  After  the  vic- 
tories which  resulted  in  the  control  of 
Chattanooga  and  the  surrounding  terri- 
tory had  demonstrated  the  good  fighting 


218 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


qualities  of  the  Seventy-eighth,  Colonel 
Blakeley  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
troops  on  Lookout  Mountain,  retaining 
this  command  until  April,  1864,  when,  at 
the  opening  of  the  Atlanta  campaign, 
serious  illness  in  his  family  compelled  his 
resignation.  When  Andrew  Johnson  be- 
came president  he  nominated  Colonel 
Blakeley  as  brevet  brigadier-general,  but 
the  nomination  was  held  up  in  the  Senate 
during  the  exciting  times  in  Congress. 

After  Colonel  Blakeley's  return  from 
the  front  he  again  became  interested  in 
the  practice  of  law  and  was  engaged  in 
many  important  cases  in  Allegheny  and 
other  counties.  He  was  the  author  of 
"Bench  and  Bar  of  Allegheny  County," 
and  his  personal  knowledge  of  the  best- 
known  and  oldest  Pittsburgh  attorneys 
and  jurists  renders  the  work  one  of  the 
most  useful  books  of  information  regard- 
ing the  subject  of  which  it  treats.  He 
was  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  com- 
mission for  the  erection  of  monuments  to 
the  seventeen  Pennsylvania  organizations 
which  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga  and  other  fights  in  and  around 
Chattanooga.  He  also  served  as  presi- 
dent of  the  National  Park  Association  at 
Lookout  Mountain.  In  the  ranks  of  the 
Union  Veteran  Legion  Colonel  Blakeley 
was  always  prominent,  and  one  of  his 
many  distinctions  consisted  in  the  fact 
that  he  was  elected  national  commander 
of  that  body.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he 
had  been  for  many  years  a  vestryman  of 
Trinity  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

All  who  ever  had  the  privilege  of  meet- 
ing Colonel  Blakeley,  or  even  passing  him 
in  the  street,  know  that  he  was  a  man  who 
looked  what  he  was.  His  military  bear- 
ing proclaimed  the  soldier,  and  his  finely- 
cut  features  bore  the  stamp  of  the  intel- 
lectual vigor  which  gained  for  him  his 
place  at  the  bar  and  his  influence  in  the 
political  world.    His  dark  blue  eyes,  keen, 


steadfast  and  compelling,  showed  him  to 
be  a  leader  of  men.  In  his  latter  years 
a  crown  of  abundant  white  hair  and  a  full 
beard  of  the  same  hue  imparted  to  him  an 
air  of  singular  distinction,  an  appearance 
at  once  venerable  and  commanding.  A 
representative  of  one  of  the  most  momen- 
tous epochs  in  our  national  history,  no 
one  who  beheld  him,  though  but  for  a  few 
moments,  ever  forgot  that  noble  face  and 
form. 

Colonel  Blakeley  married,  in  1854, 
Susan  Drum  Mechling,  whose  ancestral 
record  is  appended  to  this  biography,  and 
they  became  the  parents  of  three  sons: 
Frederick  J.,  of  Roseburg,  Oregon :  Wil- 
liam A.,  of  Pittsburgh,  former  district  at- 
torney of  Allegheny  county ;  and  Archibald 
M.,  an  attorney  of  New  York  City.  In 
his  wife,  "a  perfect  woman  nobly 
planned,"  Colonel  Blakeley  ever  found  an 
ideal  helpmate,  a  true  comrade  and  the 
sunshine  of  his  home. 

Until  within  two  years  of  his  death 
Colonel  Blakeley  was  engaged  in  the  ac- 
tive practice  of  his  profession,  and  almost 
to  the  very  end  he  retained  his  keen  and 
broad-minded  interest  in  the  affairs  not 
of  his  own  community  and  nation  alone, 
but  of  the  world-at-large.  On  August  27, 
191 5,  he  passed  away,  "full  of  years  and 
of  honors,"  able  lawyer,  brave  soldier,  pa- 
triotic citizen,  upright  and  warm-hearted 
man.  In  every  class  of  society  and  in 
every  walk  of  life  friends  rose  up  to  honor 
his  name  and  offer  tributes  to  his  memory. 

One  of  the  Pittsburgh  papers,  the  "Tel- 
egraph," said,  in  part: 

In  the  fullness  of  years  Colonel  Archibald 
Blakeley  passed  from  this  life  yesterday  evening. 
Had  he  done  nothing  more  than  assist  in  the 
organization  of  the  Republican  party  he  would 
have  earned  the  esteem  of  his  fellowmen ;  but 
he  did  much,  much  more,  for  the  honor  of  his 
country  and  his  State.  In  his  declining  years,  as 
in  his  prime,  he  was  distinguished  for  his  integ- 

19 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


rity  and  his  devotion  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
community.  And  so  it  is  that  his  memory  will 
be  cherished  by  all  who  knew  him. 

By  triple  links  which  were  as  "hooks 
of  steel,"  the  life  of  this  noble  man  con- 
nected the  present  with  the  past.  He 
represented  sixty  years'  history  of  the 
Pennsylvania  bar,  and  his  presence  was 
a  perpetual  reminder  of  the  war  which 
resulted  in  the  birth  of  a  nation.  But  he 
linked  us  with  events  more  remote  than 
that.  As  one  of  the  great  ante-bellum 
group  which  helped  to  prepare  the  way 
for  the  war  and  its  results,  he  stands  be- 
fore us  not  only  as  one  of  the  actors  in 
a  mighty  drama,  but  in  a  sense,  as  one  of 
its  creators.  His  figure  looms  large  in 
history,  and  the  mists  of  time  will  have 
little  power  to  obscure  its  heroic  propor- 
tions. 

(The  Mechling  Line). 

(I)  Jacob  Mechling,  the  first  ancestor 
of  record,  was  a  native  of  Germany,  and 
not  many  years  prior  to  the  Revolution- 
ary War  emigrated  to  the  American  col- 
onies, settling  in  Northampton  county, 
Pennsylvania,  and  removing  thence  to 
Westmoreland  county,  where  they  passed 
the  remainder  of  their  lives.  The  words 
"they"  and  "their"  are  used  not  without 
reason,  for  Jacob  Mechling  was  accom- 
panied in  his  wanderings  by  his  wife, 
whom  he  married  in  Germany  and  whose 
name  was  Catherine.  They  died,  respec- 
tively, on  November  i,  1827,  and  August 
18,  1832,  each  having  attained  the  age  of 
eighty-four  years. 

(II)  Jacob  (2)  Mechling,  son  of  Jacob 
(1)  and  Catherine  Mechling,  was  born 
December  8,  1770,  in  Northampton 
county,  Pennsylvania,  and  enlisted  in  the 
United  States  army.  In  1792  he  was  sent 
with  his  company  to  Chambers'  Station, 
Westmoreland  county,  to  guard  the  set- 
tlers against  the  Indians,  and  in  1796, 
after  the  Indian  troubles  had  subsided,  he 


went  to  Butler  county  and  purchased  a 
tract  of  land  in  what  is  now  Washington 
township.  Later  he  removed  to  the  bor- 
ough of  Butler  and  engaged  in  the  hotel 
business,  also  becoming  one  of  the  pion- 
eer merchants  of  the  town.  Though  a 
Democrat  in  politics,  Mr.  Mechling  voted 
for  Washington  in  1792,  but  from  Jeffer- 
son to  Buchanan  always  cast  his  presi- 
dential vote  for  the  candidate  of  his  party. 
In  1803  he  was  elected  county  commis- 
sioner, and  in  1804  justice  of  the  peace. 
The  same  year  he  was  chosen  a  member 
of  the  Legislature,  serving  continuously 
by  re-elections  until  1808.  In  1809  he  was 
appointed  prothonotary,  an  office  which 
he  retained  nine  years.  He  served  sev- 
eral terms  in  the  Council,  and  for  three 
years  was  chief  burgess  of  the  borough. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  church. 
Mr.  Mechling  married,  December  30, 
1794,  Mary  Magdalene  Drum,  and  their 
children  were :  Jacob,  mentioned  below  ; 
Susanna,  born  July  8,  1797,  married 
(first)  John  McCleary  and  (second) 
Judge  Cole,  of  Peru,  Indiana;  George, 
born  June  3,  1799;  Simon,  born  Septem- 
ber 16,  1801 ;  Philip,  born  August  20, 
1803;  Catherine  B.,  born  March  3,  1806, 
married  Judge  Joseph  Buffington  ;  Christ- 
ian, born  January  24,  1808;  Benjamin, 
born  March  28,  1810;  Henry,  born  March 
22,  1812;  Samuel,  born  June  21,  1814;  and 
Thomas,  born  August  30,  1816.  Jacob 
Mechling,  the  father  of  the  family,  died 
January  10,  1861. 

(Ill)  Jacob  (3)  Mechling,  son  of  Jac- 
ob (2)  and  Mary  Magdalene  (Drum) 
Mechling,  was  born  October  20,  1795,  in 
Westmoreland  county,  Pennsylvania,  and 
succeeded  to  the  hotel  business  of  his 
father  which  he  conducted  until  1865, 
when  he  retired.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the 
War  of  1812,  serving  as  lieutenant  of  a 
company  from  Butler  which  was  sta- 
tioned  at   Black   Rock,   on   the   Niagara 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


river.  He  was  successively  a  Whig  and  a 
Republican,  and  held  the  offices  of  asso- 
ciate judge,  prothonotary  and  treasurer 
of  Butler  county,  also  serving  in  1849  as 
chief  burgess  of  Butler.  In  early  life  he 
was  connected  with  the  Lutheran  church, 
but  in  later  years  united  with  the  Protest- 
ant Episcopal  church  of  Butler  in  which, 
for  many  years,  he  served  as  vestryman 
and  senior  warden.  Mr.  Mechling  mar- 
ried Jane,  daughter  of  John  Thompson, 
and  sister  of  the  late  Chief  Justice  James 
Thompson,  and  their  children  were: 
Mary  J.,  married  L.  L.  Lord,  and  is  now 
deceased ;  Susan  Drum,  mentioned  below  ; 
William  T.,  deceased,  graduated  from 
West  Point,  was  a  colonel  in  the  regular 
army ;  Jacob  J.,  of  California ;  Simon  S., 
deceased ;  and  Joseph  B.,  of  Butler  town- 
ship. Mrs.  Mechling  passed  away  in 
May,  1872,  and  her  husband  did  not  long 
survive  her,  his  death  occurring  Septem- 
ber n,  1873.  Colonel  William  T.  Mech- 
ling, of  the  Fifteenth  Pennsylvania  Vol- 
unteers, son  of  Simon  Mechling,  is  now 
postmaster  at  Butler. 

(IV)  Susan  Drum  Mechling,  daughter 
of  Jacob  (3)  and  Jane  (Thompson) 
Mechling,  became  the  wife  of  Colonel 
Archibald  Blakeley,  as  stated  above. 


BLAKELEY,  Frederick  J., 

Representative  Citizen. 

A  varied  and  eventful  record  is  that  of 
Frederick  J.  Blakeley,  now  of  Roseburg, 
Oregon,  but  belonging  by  birth  and  an- 
cestry to  Pennsylvania.  For  a  number  of 
years  Mr.  Blakeley  was  closely  associated 
with  railroad  interests  in  Ohio,  and  subse- 
quently he  took,  for  a  time,  a  prominent 
part  in  the  political  life  of  Detroit,  Mich- 
igan. Since  becoming  a  resident  of  Ore- 
gon, Mr.  Blakeley  has  been  actively  iden- 
tified with  the  elements  most  essential  to 
the  upbuilding  and  progress  of  that  State. 


Frederick  J.  Blakeley  was  born  Novem- 
ber 4,  1855,  at  Butler,  Pennsylvania,  and 
is  a  son  of  Colonel  Archibald  and  Susan 
Drum  (Mechling)  Blakeley.  One  mem- 
orable event  stands  out  distinctly  in  the 
boyhood  of  Frederick  J.  Blakeley.  He  ac- 
companied his  mother  when  she  went  to 
visit  his  father  at  the  front,  arriving  at 
Murfreesboro,  Tennessee,  where  Colonel 
Blakeley  was  stationed,  two  days  after 
the  battle  of  Stone  River.  When  the 
army  was  commanded  to  move  forward 
they  returned  home,  but  the  time  spent 
at  the  camp  was  a  never-to-be-forgotten 
episode  in  the  life  of  the  boy. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  the  family 
moved  to  Franklin,  Pennsylvania,  where 
Frederick  J.  attended  school,  later  going 
to  Kenwood  School,  at  New  Brighton, 
Pennsylvania.  In  1867  the  family  took 
up  their  abode  in  Pittsburgh  and  there 
Frederick  J.  attended  the  Western  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  (now  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pittsburgh),  afterward  finishing 
his  education  at  Lehigh  University,  Beth- 
lehem, Pennsylvania.  On  leaving  this  in- 
stitution he  studied  law  with  his  father, 
but  before  he  had  completed  the  course 
decided  to  abandon  the  idea  of  a  profes- 
sional career  and  to  identify  himself  with 
railroad  interests.  His  first  step  in  this 
direction  was  to  enter  the  engineering  de- 
partment of  the  Wheeling  &  Lake  Erie 
Railway,  the  headquarters  being  at  Nor- 
walk,  Ohio.  Subsequently  he  associated 
himself  with  the  Toledo,  St.  Louis  &  Kan- 
sas City  Railway  in  the  capacity  of  pay- 
master, with  headquarters  at  Toledo, 
Ohio.  After  holding  this  position  about 
one  year  he  was  recalled  to  the  Wheeling 
&  Lake  Erie  Railway  to  assume  the  office 
of  assistant  managing  director,  in  charge 
of  the  right  of  way  department. 

After  his  marriage,  Mr.  Blakeley  lived 
for  a  time  on  a  stock  farm  in  Michigan, 
near  Toledo,  but  after  several  years  re- 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


turned  to  that  city,  having  secured  a  large 
railroad  contract  with  the  Lake  Shore  & 
Michigan  Southern  Railroad. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Mr.  Blake- 
ley  became  prominent  in  the  political 
field,  his  abilities  as  an  organizer  having 
attracted  special  attention.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  he  was  solicited  to  conduct 
the  campaign  for  the  nomination  of  May- 
or Pingree,  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  for  gov- 
ernor of  the  State.  When  he  took  charge 
of  this  campaign  Mr.  Blakeley  found  that 
the  mass  of  the  people  were  with  Pingree, 
but  that  they  had  no  organization  and 
were  opposed  by  the  old  guard,  who  had 
been  in  the  harness  for  years,  had  a  good 
organization,  were  well  equipped  finan- 
cially, and  seemed  to  have  everything  in 
their  favor.  The  campaign  was  one  of  the 
most  bitterly  contested  in  the  history  of 
the  United  States,  but  ended  triumphant- 
ly, not  only  in  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Pingree,  but  also  in  his  election  by  the 
largest  majority  ever  received  by  any 
gubernatorial  candidate  in  Michigan.  Mr. 
Blakeley  was  justly  awarded  great  credit 
for  the  management  of  this  campaign  and 
was  induced  to  remain  in  Detroit,  resid- 
ing in  that  city  until  1901. 

In  that  year  Mr.  Blakeley,  who  was  as- 
sociated with  Eastern  capitalists  in  West- 
ern timber,  went  to  Oregon  to  look  after 
their  holdings,  and  in  1905  decided  to 
make  his  home  in  Roseburg,  in  that  State, 
where  he  has  resided  continuously  ever 
since.  He  has  become  active  in  the  up- 
building and  development  of  Oregon,  and 
has  taken  a  leading  part  in  the  political 
affairs  of  the  State.  Not  only  there,  but 
also  in  the  other  places  where  he  has  re- 
sided, he  has  served  as  president  and 
director  of  a  number  of  corporations.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
church.  As  may  be  inferred  from  his 
record  Mr.  Blakeley  is  a  man  of  aggres- 
sive energy,  much  foresight  and  gifted 
both  as  an  executant  and  administrator. 


Another  of  his  endowments  is  his  capac- 
ity for  making  friends,  and  also  for  keep- 
ing them.  Loyal  himself,  he  inspires  loy- 
alty in  others.  He  looks  like  what  he  is, 
a  successful  man  of  affairs  and  a  man  of 
race,  true  to  the  traditions  of  a  noble 
ancestry. 

Mr.  Blakeley  married,  June  15,  1882, 
Ada,  daughter  of  Dr.  W.  W.  and  Adaline 
(Knaggs)  Jones.  Dr.  Jones,  who  was 
mayor  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  was  a  lineal  de- 
scendant of  Captain  Jones,  of  the  "May- 
flower." Mrs.  Jones  was  a  great  grand- 
daughter of  Jonathan  Carver,  and  a 
granddaughter  of  Whitmore  Knaggs,  who 
was  Indian  agent  with  General  Lewis 
Cass  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  and  in  associa- 
tion with  whom  he  helped  to  negotiate 
some  of  the  most  important  Indian  treat- 
ies. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blakeley  became  the 
parents  of  a  son  and  two  daughters:  I. 
William  J.,  whose  biography  follows.  2. 
Adeo  Sue,  born  December  31,  1885,  died 
May  8,  1910.  3.  Grace  Jones,  born  Octo- 
ber 15,  1889;  married,  February  10,  1915, 
H.  J.  Hildeburn,  of  Roseburg,  Oregon. 
Care  for  the  welfare  of  those  nearest  and 
dearest  to  him  has  ever  been  the  dominant 
motive  of  Mr.  Blakeley's  life  and  his  home 
was  always  to  him  a  place  of  rest  and 
refuge  from  the  turmoil  of  affairs.  The 
wife  and  mother,  who  was  the  center  and 
source  of  the  happiness  of  that  home, 
passed  away  on  February  23,  19 17,  the 
event  calling  forth  a  spontaneous  and 
touching  proof  of  the  place  she  had  held 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  Roseburg. 
Her  funeral  services  were  conducted,  by 
public  request,  at  the  Armory,  and  at  the 
hour  appointed  all  business  houses  were 
closed  and  all  courts  adjourned.  The 
services  were  conducted  by  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic  and  the  Women's 
Relief  Committee,  in  conjunction  with  the 
rendering  of  the  last  rites  of  the  Protest- 
ant Episcopal  church. 

Frederick   J.    Blakeley    has    played    an 


ENCYCLOPEDIA  OF  BIOGRAPHY 


active  and  influential  part  in  the  indus- 
trial development  and  political  affairs  of 
no  fewer  than  three  states  of  the  Union, 
but  never  does  Pennsylvania  forget  that 
he  is  her  son.  With  the  pride  of  posses- 
sion she  has  watched  each  successive  step 
of  his  career,  and  in  any  history  of  her 
representative  men  she  claims  the  appear- 
ance of  his  biography  and  portrait  as  one 
of  her  inalienable  rights. 


BLAKELEY,  William  Augustus, 

Lawyer,    Public    Official. 

The  career  of  the  late  William  A.  Blake- 
ley,  former  district  attorney  of  the  city 
of  Pittsburgh,  furnishes  a  striking  refuta- 
tion of  the  popular  belief  that  it  is  more 
difficult  for  the  son  of  a  successful  man  to 
make  for  himself  a  name  and  place  in  the 
world  than  it  is  for  him  who  enters  the 
arena  unheralded.  Comparison  with  his 
eminent  ancestors  shows  a  balance  in  Mr. 
Blakeley's  favor,  the  distinction  which  he 
attained  in  his  private  practice  being  sur- 
passed only  by  the  richly-merited  honor 
which  attended  him  in  his  official  life. 

William  Augustus  Blakeley  was  born 
February  24,  1866,  in  Franklin,  Venango 
county,  Pennsylvania,  and  was  a  son  of 
Colonel  Archibald  and  Susan  Drum 
(  Mechling)  Blakeley.  While  he  was  still 
an  infant  his  parents  moved  to  the  old  city 
of  Allegheny  (now  North  Side,  Pitts- 
burgh), and  it  was  in  the  public  schools 
of  that  neighborhood  that  he  received  his 
early  education.  Later  he  attended  the 
Sewickley  Academy,  where  he  was  pre- 
pared for  the  Western  University  of 
Pennsylvania  (now  the  University  of 
Pittsburgh),  whence  he  proceeded  to  the 
University  of  Michigan.  From  that  in- 
stitution he  graduated  in  1887  with  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Immediately 
after  this  event  Mr.  Blakeley  returned  to 
Pittsburgh,  where  he  at  once  engaged  in 


newspaper  work,  bcoming  a  reporter  for 
the  "Commercial  Gazette"  and  the  "Pitts- 
burgh Press."  While  thus  busily  en- 
gaged he  did  not  lose  sight  of  his  ultimate 
object  which  was